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THE ADVENTURES OF 
BIG-FOOT WALLACE 




"BIG-FOOT WALLACE" 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



Big-Foot Wallace 

THE TEXAS RANGER 
AND HUNTER 

BY 

JOHN C. DUVAL 

Author of "Jack Dobell, or, A Boy's Adventures in Texas" 
"The Young Explorers, or Boy-Life in Texas," Etc. 

With Tortrait and Engravings 



J. W. BURKE A CO. 
1870 



Entered accordíng to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
J. W. BURKE & CO. 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
Southern District of Georgia 



33^30 



PREFACE 



PTT^HE writer of this little book is well aware that 
it will not stand the test of criticism as a liter- 
Ji. ary production. A f rontiersman himself , his op- 
portunitíes for acquiring information, and for supply- 
ing the deficiencies of a rather limited education, have 
of course been "few and far between;" and therefore 
it cannot reasonably be expected that he could make a 
book under such circumstances which would not be 
sadly defective as to style and composition. How- 
ever, it can justly lay claim to at least one merit, not 
often found in similar publications — it is not a com- 
pilation of imaginary scenes and incidents, concocted 
in the brain of one who never was beyond the sound 
of a dinner-bell in his life, but a plain, unvarnished 
story of the " 'scapes and scrapes" of Big-Foot Wal- 
lace, the Texas Ranger and Hunter, written out from 
notes furnished by himself, and told, as well as my 
memory serves me, in his pwn language. 

"Big-Foot Wallace" is, perhaps, better known 
throughout Texas as an Indian-fighter, hunter, and 
ranger, than any one now living in the State ; which is 
saying a good deal, when the great number who have 
acquired more or less notoriety in that way is taken 
into consideration. Few men now living, I am confi- 
dent, have witnessed as many stirring incidents, had 
more "hair-breadth escapes," or gone through more 
of the hardships and perils of a border life. He was a 
participant in almost every fíght, foray, and "scrim- 
mage" with the Mexicans and Indians that took place 
in Texas after he first landed on her shores in 1836. 



viii 



PREFACE 



Pioneers, or frontiersmen, are a class of men pecu- 
liar to our country, and seem to have been designed 
especially to meet the exigencies of the occasion. With 
their "iron nerves," great powers of endurance, and 
indomitable "go-a-headativeness," they have been 
essentially useful in clearing the way through the wil- 
derness from such obstacles as would have been per- 
haps insurmountable to those coming after them. 
Their mission has been very nearly accomplished. 
Like the flatboat-men of the Mississippi, who have 
entirely disappeared as a class since the introduction 
of steamboats on that river and its tributaries, their 
numbers are steadily decreasing before the extensión 
of railroads and the área of civilization. Only here 
and there one is still found in our midst, whom disease, 
wounds, or oíd age have rendered incapable of further 
contests with the Indians and other denizens of the 
forests and plains, and of enduring the hardships and 
exposure of a life in the wilderness. As a class, fron- 
tiersmen are observant and knowing in all that per- 
tains to their peculiar mode of life, and as deeply 
versed in all the mysteries of woodcraft as the wily 
savage himself ; but they are guileless and unsuspicious 
as a child, and whenever they come in conflict with the 
shrewd, calculating man of business, they are as help- 
less as a "stranded whale." For this reason, they 
seldom accumulate property, and those who follow 
after them generally reap the reward of all their 
perils, toils, and hardships. 

Wallace is no exception to this rule, and the best 
days of his life were freely given to the service of his 
country. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 

Page 



CHAPTER I.—Introductory 1 

CHAPTER II.— Wallace's Initiation into the Mysteries 
of Woodcraft 4 

CHAPTER II L— On the Route— The Oíd Lady and the 
Truck-Patch 6 

CHAPTER IV.— A Rattlesnake Bite— Singular Spring— 
Wild Artichokes — Indian Art Gallery — Wallace's First 
Bear 11 

CHAPTER V.— Buffalo— Fine Grove of Pecan Trees— 
The First Buffalo— Bit by a Rattlesnake— The Taran- 
tula — Traveling Under Difficulties — A Free Serenade 15 

CHAPTER VI.— The Palo Pinto at Last— The Camp in 
the Valley — Wallace's Last Look at the Camp — The 
Indians— A Tight Race— Wallace Kills His First Indian 19 

CHAPTER VIL— Lost Among the Ravines— A Lucky 
Shot — Comfortable Quarters — A Petrified Forest — The 
Mexican Gourd — Wallace Makes a Friend 26 

CHAPTER VIII.— My Little Valley— A Sad Accident— 
Wild Turkeys — On Crutches — On the Tramp Again — 
A Last Look 35 

CHAPTER IX. — Gold — Indian Smokes — Comanche Un- 
easy — Captured by the Indians — Mysterious Movements 
—The Oíd Squaw— What Next? 40 

CHAPTER X.— Led Out for Execution— Saved at the 
Last Moment — A New Mother and a New Home — Co- 
manche in Luck Again — "Lobo-lusti-hadjo" 46 

CHAPTER XI.— Black-Wolf's Indian Legend— Determi- 
nation to Escape — Back in the Settlements 51 

CHAPTER XII.— Belated in the Woods— Wolves on the 
Track — One Fellow Out of the Way — Reinforcements 
Corning Up — A Hand-to-Hand Fight 58 

CHAPTER XIII.— A Struggle for Life— Fight With the 
"Big Indian" 64 

CHAPTER XIV.— A Tight Place— Indian Signs— Ben 
Wade's Motto — Ben and the Buffalo Ribs — "Ingins 
About"— Here They Come 71 

ix 



X 



CONTENTS 



Page 

CHAPTER XV.— A Warm Reception— "Fire and Fall 
Bacfc"— Hot Work— A Natural Coward— Four at a Shot 
— Lassoing Dead Indians 77 

CHAPTER XVI.— More Comanches on the War-Track— 
Keeping a Stifí Upper Lip — On a False Trail — Ben 
Wade Wants His Dinner— "Mr. John" Outwitted 81 

CHAPTER XVII.— A Night Visit From the Indians— 
Afoot, and Ten Miles to Travel — On the Trail — A Curi- 
ous Specimen 85 

CHAPTER XVIII.— Story of the Indian-hater — The 
Move From Kentucky — New Home in Texas — Wife and 
Children Murdered by the Indians — Terrible Revenge — 
A Dangerous Companion — The Indian Camp 93 

CHAPTER XIX.— Attacking the Indians— Narrow Es- 
cape — The Indian-hater at Work — Forgot to Untie His 
Horse — A Dying Struggle — Worse Scared Than Hurt — 
Dinner Ready Cooked — Return to the Settlements, and 
Disappearance of the Indian-hater 98 

CHAPTER XX.— Wallace Makes a Treaty With the 
Lipan Indians — The Indians Break It — Preparation to 
Punish Them — First Appearance of a Live Author 103 

CHAPTER XXL— The Author Again— The Boys Make 
Fun of His Umbrella — His Pistol "Goes Oí¥" and Cre- 
ates an Excitement — Mr. Cooper's Indian Characters — 
Some Sage Reflections on Character — The Author Wants 
a Bed, and Gets Tige's Buffalo Robe — "Something Like 
a Pillow" — Troublesome Bedfellows — The Start After 
the Indians 111 

CHAPTER XXII.— The Sudden Storm— Sad Fate of the 
"Author's" Umbrella— What He Thought of Mr. Cooper 
— The Author Goes a-Hunting, and What He Found — 
He Pronounces Mr. Cooper a Humbug 118 

CHAPTER XXIII.— Our Author Has an Appetite — 
Scarcity of Water — The Author Takes Notes, and the 
Men Get Riled— The Mud-Puddle 125 

CHAPTER XXIV.— Plenty of Water— A Halt for Re- 
freshments — Our Author Among the Rocks — He Meets 
With an Adventure — Treed by Mexican Hogs — He 
Grows Desperate— Is Released at Last — Adventure 
With a Rattlesnake— More Scared Than Hurt 130 

CHAPTER XXV.— Another Rattlesnake— How to Man- 
age Rattlesnakes — Terrific Adventure With a Grape- 
vine Rattlesnake 143 



CONTENTS xi 

Page 

CHAPTER XXVL— Fresh signs of the Indians— Our 
Author in Trouble Again — Scatter Guns Compared 
With Bows and Arrows 149 



CHAPTER XXVII.— The Indians Overtaken— Desperate 
Fight — The Author Proves Himself a Good Soldier — 
The Indian Girl — The Author Has a Race for His Life — 



The Umbrella Comes in Play — Gathering Up the Spoils 

— The Horses Recovered — Farewell to the Author 154 

CHAPTER XXVIIL— Wallace Surprises a Party of In- 
dians Who Were Making Themselves "Comfortable" 
near His Ranch 163 

CHAPTER XXIX.— The "Mier Expedition" 167 

CHAPTER XXX.— Over the Rio Grande Again— A Cost- 
ly Exchange — Reception by the Mexicans — Firing an 
"Escopeta" — Fighting in Earnest — Captain Cameron 
and the Mexican Soldier 172 

CHAPTER XXXI.— Surrender to the Mexicans— General 
Green's Proposition — Marched Off to Prison — The 
Mexican Maiden — Off for Camargo — A Short Stay, and 
OfT Again— Reinosa 179 

CHAPTER XXXII.— Off for Matamoros— Distinguished 
Reception at Matamoros — An Oratorical Display — 
Again on the Road — A Serious Loss — Goat or Dog? 185 

CHAPTER XXXIII.— Still on the Road— Inhuman 
Treatment — Wallace Uses His "Big Foot" to Advan- 
tage — Planning an Escape — Disappointment — Monterey 
— The Tarántula — Change of Commanders, and Off 
Again — Rinconada — Another Plan of Escape, and An- 
other Disappointment — Arrival at Saltillo, and a Deter- 
mination 191 



CHAPTER XXXIV.— Successful Attack on the Mexican 
Guard — Bravery of Colonél Barragan — Retreat From 
Salado — Rapid Traveling — Bad Counsels — Suffering for 
Water — In Dimculties — Water at Last — The Horses 
Killed and Eaten 197 

CHAPTER XXV.— A Dreary Prospect— No Water— 
Dying by the Wayside— Hunger and Thirst — Dreaming 
of Water — Hopes and Disappointments — Captured by 
the Mexicans — Water, at Last — Wretched Condition of 
the SurviVors 205 



xii 



CONTENTS 



Pagc 

CHAPTER XXXVI.— Encampment at the Water-Hole— 
Wretched Appearance of the Men — March Back to Sal- 
tillo — Mexican Vermin — How Wallace Was Dressed — 
Mexican Vegetation — The Tiger Thorn — Conflicting 
Rumors 213 

CHAPTER XXXVII.— Sudden Change of Quarters— 
Rancho Salado Once More — Brutal Order — The Draw- 
ing of the Beans — "Dip Deep, Boys" — The Baboon- 
faced Mexican Officer — Indifference of the Men — The 
One Exception — Wallace Draws a White Bean — "Ould 
Ireland Forever^ — Speedy Execution — A Miraculous 
Escape, and Subsequent Death 220 

CHAPTER XXXVIII.— San Luis Potosí— Queretaro— 
Tuli — The Black Hole of Calcutta — Murder of Captain 
Cameron — Arrival at the City of México — put to Work 
on the Public Road — How Wallace Got His Pay — How 
One of the Men "Played Horse" — Escape of Prisoners — 
Why Wallace Was Called "Big-Foot" — "Texas Canni- 
bals" 231 

CHAPTER XXXIX.— Puebla— Perote— Wallace Has 
"Jail Fever" — The Surgeon-General Saves His Life — See- 
ing the Animáis — More Men Escape — Final Reléase, and 
Start Home — Stopped by Robbers, Who Prove to Be 
Very Clever Fellows — Yellow Fever — Home Again 238 

CHAPTER XL.— Wallace Hears from Virgiania— Civil- 
ized Compared With Uncivilized Life — He Determines to 
Take a Trip to the "Oíd States" — Lays in a "Civilized" 
Wardrobe — An Oíd Friend Finds Him Disguised in His 
New Cloths — Starts on His Journey — Wallace's Opin- 
ión of the Sea — At New Orleans, and What He Saw 
There 244 

CHAPTER XLL— Wallace Goes to the Theatre— His 
Opinión of "Play-Aetors" — The Dancing Woman — 
Wallace Gets Excited— The St. Charles "Tavern"— How 
He Registered His Ñame — Wallace is Afraid of a Fire — 
He Breakfasts at the St. Charles, and Gets Up an Ex- 
citement— The Bill of Fare— Fried Bullfrogs 252 

CHAPTER XLII.— Wallace Meets With an Adventure— 
Goes to a Quadroon Ball and Teaches Them "The 
Stampede" — Wallace Takes a "White Lion," and Pays 
for It— Has His Fortune Told— What Followed 260 



CONTENTS 



xüi 



Page 

CHAPTER XLIIL— Wallace in Trouble— Leaves New 
Orleans — On the Mississippi — A Boat Race — Wallace 
Roars Like a Mexican Lion — He "Sells" a Dandy — 
"Running Against a Snag" — Anchored on a Sand-bank 
— Damage Repaired, and Arrival at Cincinnati 272 

CHAPTER XLIV.— Cincinnati— WaiterGirls at the Hotel 
— Wallace Discourses on Politeness — Southerners and 
Yankees — A Little Dish of Politics — Goes to Dan Rice's 
Circus — Rides a Refractory Horse, and Makes Twenty 
Dollars— What Wallace Thought of Cincinnati 280 

CHAPTER XLV.— Off for Wheeling— Everybody Smok- 
ing — Wallace's First Trip in the Cars — What He 
Thought of Railroad Traveling — Richmond — The Dime 
Restaurant — Wallace Goes to a Fire, and Gets "Put Out" 
— What He Thought of Prince Albert — Wallace Leaves 
Richmond, and Goes to Lexington — What His Relatives 
Thought of Him — The "Wild Texan" at a "Fandango," 
Where He Tells Some "Big Stories" — Miss Matilda, and 
What She Heard — Wallace Gets Tired of Civilization, 
and Goes Back to Texas 287 

CHAPTER XLVL— Wallace Gives Jack Dobell His 
Opinión of Farming — Unele Josh — The Jews a Sensible 
People — Wallace Makes His Arrangements for a Crop — 
He and "Keechie" Try Ploughing — Both Disgusted — 
Queer Muskmelon — Ruined by the Drougth — How Wal- 
lace Was Cheated Out of His "Roasting-ears" — Living 
on Watermelons and "Poor Doe" — Wallace's Future 
Prospects — Conclusión 300 



SKETCH OF WALLACE'S LIFE 



ILLIAM A. WALLACE was born in Lexington, Rock- 
bridge. County, Virginia, in the year 1816. He went to 
Texas in 1836, a few months after the battle of San Jacinto, for 
the purpose, he says, of taking pay out of the Mexicans for the 
murder of his brother and his cousin, Major Wallace, both of 
whom fell at "Fannin's Massacre." He says he believes ac- 
counts with them are now about square. 

He landed first at Galveston, which consisted then of six 
groceries and an oíd stranded hulk of a steamboat, used as a 
hotel, and for a berth in which he paid at the rate of three 
dollars per day. From Galveston, Wallace went on to La 
Grange, then a frontier village, where he resided until the 
spring of 1839, when he moved to Austin, just before the seat 
of government was established at that place. He remained at 
Austin until the spring of 1840, when finding that the country 
was settling up around him too fast to suit his notions, he 
went over to San Antonio, where he resided until he entered 
the service. 

He was at the battle of the Salado, in the fall of 1842, when 
General Woll carne in and captured San Antonio. The fight 
began about 11 o'clock in the day, and lasted until night. Gen- 
eral Woll had fourteen hundred men, and the Texans one hun- 
dred and ninety-seven, under Caldwell (commonly known as 
"Oíd Paint")- Between eighty and one hundred Mexicans 
were killed, while the Texans lost only one man (Jett). Forty 
men, however, from La Grange, under Captain Dawson, who 
were endeavoring to form a junction with them, were sur- 
rounded and captured by the Mexicans, who massacred them 
all as soon as they had surrendered their arms. 

In the fall of 1842, he volunteered in the "Mier Expedition," 
an account of which appears in this volume. After his return 
from México, he joined Colonel Jack Hays's Ranging Com- 
pany, the first ever regularly enlisted in the service of the "oíd 
Republic," and was with it in many of those desperate en- 
counters with the Comanches and other Indians, in which 
Hays, Walker, McCulloch, and Chevalier gained their reputa- 
tions as successful Indian-fighters. 

When the Mexican war broke out in 1846, Wallace joined 
Colonel Hays's regiment of mounted volunteers, and was with 




SKETCH OF WALLACE'S LIFE 



XV 



it at the storming of Monterey, where he says he took "full 
toll" out of the Mexicans for killing his brother and cousin at 
Goliad in 1836. 

After the Mexican war ended, he had command of a Ranging 
Company for some time, and did good service in protecting 
the frontiers of the State from the incursions of the savages. 
Subsequently he had charge of the mail from San Antonio to 
El Paso, and, though often waylaid and attacked by the In- 
dians, he always brought it through in safety. 



WILLIAM W ALLA CE 

By Dr. F. O. Ticknor 

His life is past the forties — his length is six foot two — 
And both his feet import he's not a fly to shoe! 
They dubbed him Big-Foot Wallace down in México, 
As Liliput would cali his Brobdignag, you know. 

Straight as a rifle-rammer, and lightly too he stands, 
Tho' weighted with sledge-hammer in each of his great hands! 
Grave as his own gun-barrel, yet gracious with the grim, 
And when we pick a quarrel we mustn't pick at him! 

A plant of the "'red ripper," whose level eye-light means 
A charge of Chili pepper ballasted with "Beans." 
A loyal soul! 1*11 pound it as ever ruled the ranch; 
And so the Doodles found it, and also the Comanche! 

And so the little Greasers! They say he used to catch 

A score of their Mestizoes to grease his bullet-patch! 

May they be bothered wholly — in body and in soul! 

For the milis are grinding slowly and Wallace takes the toll. 

His features so resemble his sire's, a cycle back, 
That curs and tyrants tremble to come upon his track! 
Here's Hope's un-Butlered chalice; here's loyalty's last wine! 
And here's — To William Wallace the Second, by his — "Sign!" 



THE ADVENTURES OF 

BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY 

IN 1867, while temporarily sojourning in the city 
of San Antonio, I had a severe attack of fever, 
f rom the effects of which I recovered but slowly. 
Thinking that fresh air and exercise would aid me in 
regaining my health and strength, I mounted my 
horse one fine morning in the latter part of October, 
and set out for the "ranch" of my quondam messmate 
and compadre, "Big-Foot Wallace," who held an un- 
certain tenure upon a tract of pasture land, situated 
on the Chacón, one of the head-waters of the Attas- 
coso. I say, uncertain, for his right to and possession 
of the same was constantly disputed and ignored by 
predatory bands of savages, and Mexicans, and horse 
thieves of all colors, grades, and nations. 

Toward sundown, from the top of a considerable 
hill, I carne in sight of Wallace's little ranch, snugly 
ensconced at the bottom of a valley, near the margin 
of a small lake, and protected from the northern blasts 
by a beautiful grove of spreading live-oaks. As I rodé 
up I discovered Wallace under one of these trees, 
engaged in the characteristic occupation of skinning 
a deer, which was hanging head downward, suspended 
from one of its lower branches. Wallace did not 



2 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



recognize me at first, for it was many years since we 
had last met ; but, as soon as I made myself known to 
him, he gave me a cordial shake of the hand, and 
invited me into his ranch, where, in a short time, he 
prepared a supper, to which I sat down, "nothing 
loath," for my appetite was sharpened by my long 
day's ride. 

I staid with Wallace two weeks, or thereabouts, 
hunting, fishing and riding around during the day, and 
entertained each night with "yarns" of his numerous 
" 'scapes and scrapes, by flood and field." Many years 
previously, when Wallace and I were messmates to- 
gether, in the first Ranging Company, enlisted in the 
service of the "Oíd Republic," under Colonel Jack 
Hays, I asked his consent to write out a narrative of 
his "adventures," to be published for the benefit of 
the public generally. But he seemed so much opposed 
to my doing so, that I did not press the matter upon 
him. His reasons for refusing to accede to my request 
were characteristic of the man. He did not think the 
public would be interested in the history of one so 
little known; and, even if he had vanity enough to 
believe otherwise, he had not the least desire to see 
himself íiguring in print. I determined once more to 
approach him on the subject, and this time I had bet- 
ter success than formerly, for íinally, though evidently 
with reluctance, he consented that I should publish the 
following narrative of his adventures in México and 
on the frontiers of Texas. 

u There is," I said to Wallace, "one difficulty in the 
way of writing out your 'adventures,' which I do not 
exactly know how to get over ; and that is, you do not 
murder the king's English with every other word you 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



3 



speak. Now, in all the books I have ever read, in 
which backwoodsmen or frontiersmen figure, they are 
always made to talk without the least regard to the 
rules of grammar." 

"I know," said Wallace, "that my education is a 
very limited one, but do give me credit for the little I 
have. People are not such fools as to think that a man 
cannot be a good hunter or ranger, merely because 
he speaks his own language passably well." 

And so, in compliance with Wallace's request, in 
the following narrative of his "adventures," I have 
ignored the time-honored rule of making him speak 
in slang and misspelt words, and tell the story "just as 
it was told to me." 



CHAPTER II. 



Wallace's Initiation into the Mysteries of Woodcraft 

SOON after I carne out to Texas, in 1837, said 
Wallace, being out of employment, and having 
no inclination to loaf around the "groceries" of 
a little village, I looked about f or something to do ; 
but for several weeks no "opening" presented itself. 
At length a surveyor, who was preparing for an expe- 
dition to lócate lands upon the frontier, made me an 
off er to go with him, which I gladly accepted. At that 
time, as an Irishman would say, I was "as green as a 
red blackberry," and I frankly told the surveyor that 
I knew nothing about the woods or how to get along 
in them. But he said that made no difference, as the 
rest of the party were all oíd frontiersmen, and it was 
well enough to ha ve one "green-horn" along to make 
sport for the balance. 

It was a week or ten days before we were ready to 
start, and in the meantime I prepared myself for the 
"expedition" as well as I knew how. I had brought 
with me from Virginia a good rifle, a pair of Derrin- 
ger pistols, and a bowie-knife (that you know was 
before the days of six shooters) , so that there was no 
necessity for my hunting up firearms. I bought a good 
stout Spanish pony, with saddle, bridle, etc., and laid 
in an ampie supply of ammunition and tobáceo ; and 
when the surveying party were ready to start, I joined 
them "armed and equipped as the law direets." 

Our party consisted of a guard of ten men, well 
armed and mounted, together with the surveyor, two 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



5 



chainmen, a marker, a hunter, and a cook, making in 
all sixteen men — a sufficient forcé to travel with 
safety, at that day, in the most dangerous part of the 
country. At that time, one American, well armed, was 
considered a match for eight or ten Indians, with their 
bows and arrows and miserable guns ; but now, thanks 
to the traders, they are well furnished with good 
rifles and u six-shooters," and can hold their own, man 
for man. 

The first day out, we traveled only a f ew miles, and 
encamped on a beautiful little clear stream, where I 
killed my first deer. I thought I had performed a 
wonderful feat, for I had never killed anything before 
larger than a squirrel or a 'possum, and I proudly 
returned to camp with the deer on my shoulders, try- 
ing all the time, though, to look as if the killing of a 
deer was no unusual thing with me. But the boys sus- 
pected me, and when I owned up that it was the first 
deer I had ever shot, two or three of them seized me, 
while as many more smeared my face and hands with 
the blood of the animal — a sort of ceremony, they 
said, by which I was "initiated" into the brotherhood 
of u mighty hunters." I suppose I was "initiated," as 
they called it, for I have killed many a hundred deer 
since that time, to say nothing of buífalo, bear, elk, 
wolves, panthers, Mexican lions, catamounts, and 
other "varmints" too numerous to mention. 



CHAPTER III. 



On the Route— The Oíd Lady and the Truck-patch 



P" jí ^HE next day we started just after sunrise, and 
traveled twenty-five miles over a beautiful roll- 
Ji. ing country, watered with clear streams, and 
encamped at night in a pecan grove near a fine spring. 
Just at dark, a large drove of turkeys flew up into the 
trees around, and we killed five or six of them, and 
spitted them before our fires. These, together with a 
f at doe killed by our hunter on the way, furnished us 
with an ampie supply of provender, while an abun- 
dance of fine mesquite grass in the vicinity enabled our 
horses to f are as sumptuously as ourselves. 

The next morning, after an early breakfast, we 
saddled up and again took the road, or rather our 
course, for there was no road, and went about twelve 
miles to a water-hole, where there was good grass, 
and where we "nooned" for a couple of hours. The 
country passed over was all high rolling prairie, inter- 
spersed with "mots" of elm and hackberry. While all 
hands were taking a comfortable snooze here, we 
carne near losing our horses. A wolf or some other 
wild animal gave them a scare and they "stampeded," 
and all broke their halter-ropes, except one, and ran 
off several miles. One of the men, however, mounted 
the horse that was left, and, after a chase of several 
hours, succeeded in bringing them all back. In con- 
sequence of the delay caused by this incident, we went 
only five miles farther that evening, and encamped in 
the edge of the bottom timber, on a small stream. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



7 



The country we passed over was of the same charac- 
ter as that we had formerly seen. As soon as we had 
"staked" out our horses, I rigged up a fishing-line, 
and in half an hour caught a fine mess of perch, and 
several "Gaspar Goo," a fish found, I believe, only in 
the streams of Texas, somewhat similar to the white 
perch of the "oíd States." Great numbers of turkeys 
carne at dark to roost in the trees in our vicinity, and 
they were so tame that we had no trouble in killing as 
many as we wanted. 

[Here we quote from Wallace's journal.] 

October iyth. — Made an early start again, and 
went íifteen miles, when we halted to rest on a little 
creek, called by the hunters "Burnt Boot." The coun- 
try passed over high and rolling, and about "half-and- 
half" prairie and woodland. Here is the last white 
settlement, I am told, we shall see for many a long 
day. A man by the ñame of Benson lives here, and 
supports himself and family by hunting and trapping 
and cultivating a small patch of land. I went up to 
his house to see if anything in the way of vegetables 
could be had. Benson was out hunting, but his wife, 
a tall, raw-boned, hard-favored woman, as soon as 
she saw me coming, stepped to the door with a gun 
in her hand, and told me to "stand" — and I stood! 
A half-dozen little cotton-headed children, who were 
playing in the yard, discovered me at this moment, 
and they "squandered," and squatted in the bushes 
like a gang of partridges ! 

"Who are you?" asked Mrs. Benson, pointing her 
gun right at me, "and what do you want here?" 

"I am from the settlements below, ma'am," said I, 
as polite as possible, but keeping a tree between the 



8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



good lady and myself all the time; for women, you 
know, are very awkward about handling firearms; 
"and," I continued, "I want to buy some vegetables, 
if you have any to sell." 

"Well," she answered, "come in. We hain't no 
vegetables left now," she continued, as I walked into 
the cabin and took a seat on a bench, "except cowcum- 
bers and mushmillions, and, maybe so, a few 'col- 
lards,' the dratted Varmints' are so uncommon bad 
on 'em ; but if you want any of them, you can go in the 
'truck-patch' and help yourself." 

"You seem," I ventured to remark, "from the way 
you handled your gun, to be a little suspicious of 
strangers in these parts." 

"Yes," she said, "I am, and good reason to be so, 
too ! Only last Saturday was a week ago, some Tonk 
Ingens, dressed up like white folks, walked into 
Squire Henry's house, not more than two miles from 
here, and killed and sculped the whole family ; but, as 
luck would have it, there was nobody at home, except 
the baby and an oíd nigger woman that nussed it. 
And which way are you traveling to?" she asked. 

I told her we were going up on the head-waters of 
the Brazos to survey lands. 

"Well," says she, "you'll be luckier than 'most 
everybody else that has gone up there, if you'll need 
more than six feet apiece before you get back. If I 
was your mammy, young man, you shouldn't go one 
foot on sich a wild-goose chase" — and she looked so 
determined, I do believe, if she had been my mammy, 
I should never have got nearer than "Burnt Boot" to 
the head of the Brazos. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



9 



After some further questioning on the part of the 
oíd lady, she showed me the way into the "truck- 
patch," and filled my wallet with "mushmillions" and 
"cowcumbers," for which I thanked her, as she would 
take no pay, and started back to camp. 

u Good-by, young man!" she called after me; "I 
feel mighty sorry for your poor mammy, for you'll 
never see her again." 

"Well," I answered, u if I don't, and you do, you 
must be sure and give her my kindest regards." 

"You oudacious young scamp," she replied, u put 
out from here f ast. FU insure you against everything 
but hanging, which you are certain to come to." 

The "mushmillions and cowcumbers" were a treat 
to the boys, as well as the account I gave them of the 
way in which the oíd lady had made me dodge behind 
the tree, when she levelled her gun at me. 

After dinner we mounted our horses again, and 
leaving the last settlement behind us, we rodé on ten 
miles farther into the "wilderness," keeping a bright 
lookout all the time for "Mr. John;" for we were 
liable to meet up with him, now, at any moment. The 
country was more broken and rocky than any we had 
yet seen. We camped at the foot of a high hill near 
a little spring of cold water. Our hunter killed an 
antelope to-day, on which we made a hearty supper. 
The flesh of the antelope is somewhat coarser than 
that of the deer, but I think sweeter and more juicy. 
They are much shyer than deer, and it is consequently 
more difficult to get in gunshot of them. Some of the 
boys found a "bee-tree" just before dark, which we 
cut down, and got four or five gallons of honey out of 
it, and from this time the boys said we shall nave no 



IO 



THE AD VENTORES OF 



trouble in supplying ourselves with honey, whenever 
we have time to look for the "trees." "Bear-meat and 
honey" is the frontiersman's choicest dish and I would 
dislike to say how much of them I have seen an oíd 
ranger "worry down," after a hard day's ride, for 
fear people might think I had no respect for the 
truth; no one but an oíd hunter or a starved wolf 
would credit my story. 

There is something singular about the movements 
of bees. They are never found a great way from the 
settlements, but usually precede them fifty, sixty, or a 
hundred miles, so that whenever they make their ap- 
pearance among the Indians, they know that the white 
people are coming soon — and yet, they do not remain 
long in their wild state after the country becomes 
thickly settled. In many places where "bee-trees" 
were numerous when I first carne to Texas, they are 
now soldom if ever found. 



CHAPTER IV. 



A Rattlesnake Bite — Singular Spring — Wild Artichokes — 
Indian Art Gallery — Wallace's First Bear. 



CTOBER i8th.— We were up "by times," 



and ready to "roll out" at sunrise. Saw some 



^_>^ Indian "signs," but they were all oíd, except 
one camp, which appeared to have been recently occu- 
pied. In going through a thick chaparral to-day, my 
pony was bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake. An oíd 
hunter told me to chew up some tobáceo and tie it on 
the wound, which I did, and, except a slight swelling, 
no bad results followed from the bite. (I have seen 
tobáceo used frequently since as a remedy for the bite 
of a rattlesnake, and there is no doubt it is a good one, 
but not equal to whisky or brandy taken in large quan- 
tities.) 

Passed over a great deal of broken, rocky country 
to-day, watered by little streams that were as clear as 
crystal, and íilled with trout, perch and other kinds of 
fish. We "nooned" for a couple of hours on one of 
these streams, in one of the pools of which we all took 
a refreshing bath. 

In the evening went on perhaps ten miles farther, 
and pitched camp on one of the head-waters of Cow- 
house Creek. The country passed over is very broken 
and rocky, with occasional cedar-brakes and "mots" 
of wild cherry and plum trees. 

We passed a very remarkable spring to-day. It 
beaks out at the extreme point of a high tongue of 
land that runs down into the bend of a large creek. 




12 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



The water boils up out of a basin the size of a hogs- 
head, which, running over, falls in a beautiful cascade 
into the creek below. It looked more like an artificial 
fountain than a natural spring. We saw some fresh 
Indian signs, but no Indians. 

Our camp to-night is under a large, projecting rock, 
and very fortúnate for us it was; for a heavy rain- 
storm carne up about 12 o'clock, which would have 
"ducked" us thoroughly if it had not been for our 
stone roof. As it was, we slept dry and comfortably, 
notwithstanding the heavy rain that fell. 

October igth,Sunday. — Every little creek and gully 
is swimming this morning, and, as it is Sunday, we 
have concluded to lay over a day and rest ourselves 
and animáis. After breakfast, one of the boys went 
out exploring, and in an hour or two carne back, bring- 
ing with him a large quantity of a vegetable which he 
called the artichoke. We cooked some for dinner, and 
found them excellent. It is, I believe, a species of 
bear-grass; at least, it resembles it very much, except 
that its leaves or spires are notched like a saw. It 
grows abundantly everywhere in the hilly and rocky 
country. The root is the part eaten, and is roasted in 
the ashes like a potato. Since then I have frequently 
lived solely on them for days at a time, when out on 
expeditions, and I can recommend them as a whole- 
some and nutritious vegetable to all "wayworn wan- 
derers of the Western wilds." 

Near our camp there is a perpendicular wall of 
rock, ten or twelve feet high, with a smooth, even 
face, on which the Indians have painted, with some 
sort of red earth, the likenesses of men and animáis. 
Some of the animáis are well drawn, particularly a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



13 



bufíalo ; others are imaginary beings, unlike anything 
that was ever seen. One picture represents a fight be- 
tween the Indians and the whites, and, of course, the 
Indians are giving the white men a terrible flogging. 
One white man is represented kneeling down, with his 
hands lifted up, as if begging for his life, while an 
Indian warrior stands over him, with tomahawk 
raised above his head, in the act of dashing out the 
poor fellow's brains. 

Near this place I picked up some small pieces of 
quartz rock, with shining particles scattered about 
through them, which I put in my shot-pouch. I after- 
ward had them examined at San Antonio, and the 
shining particles were said to be gold. 

In the evening we all went out "berrying," and 
gathered quantities of haws, red and black, and a sort 
of berry that I don't know the ñame of, which grows 
upon a little thorny shrub, and is very good to eat, 
though rather sour. 

The weather faired off in the evening, and the night 
was clear and pleasant. Slept again under our "rock 
house." 

October 20th. — We took our course again, which 
was about due north, and, crossing a range of moun- 
tains at a place called "Walker's Pass," we traveled 
over a rough, broken country to the South León creek, 
a distance, I suppose, of fifteen or sixteen miles, where 
we "nooned." We saw some fresh buífalo signs on the 
way, and our oíd hunters began to whet their bilis for 
fat steaks, marrow-bones, and "humps;" but as yet 
we have seen none of the animáis. We found the 
grass very fine on the bottoms of this creek, and have 
concluded to lay over until to-morrow, and give our 



14 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



horses a chance to recruit, as they have had but poor 
grazing for the last forty-eight hours. 

We had been in camp but a little while, when one 
of the boys found a "bee-tree," which we cut down, 
and took from it at least five gallons of honey. 

In the evening I went out hunting, but saw no game 
to shoot at. On my way back to camp I stopped to 
rest for a few minuets in a little cañón that lay be- 
tween two rocky hills, covered with thick chaparral. 
After a while, my attention was attracted by a noise in 
the bushes, and, looking around, I saw a large bear 
coming directly toward me. I sat perfectly still, and 
he did not notice me, but carne slowly along, now and 
then stopping to turn over a stick or a rock, in search, 
I suppose, of insects. When within twenty feet of me, 
I took sight of his fore-shoulder and fired, and he fell 
dead in his tracks. This was my first bear. He was 
very fat, and would have weighed, I suppose, three 
hundred pounds. I went back to camp, which was not 
more than half a mile off, and, returning with two of 
the men to assist me, we butchered him, and, packing 
the meat on a horse, we soon had some of it roasting 
before our fires. What a feast we had that night on 
"bear-meat and honey !" If the mess of pottage that 
Esau sold his birthright for, was as good as bear-meat 
and honey, and he had a good appetite, I believe the 
poor fellow was excusable. 

In the night we saw a long line of light to the west- 
ward of us, and supposed the Indians had fired the 
prairie. The night was pleasant and warm. 



CHAPTER V. 



Buffalo — Fine Grove of Pecan Trees — The First Buffalo — Bit 
by a Rattlesnake — The Tarántula — Traveling Under 
Difficulties — A Free Serenade. 



CTOBER 2ist. — We left camp after break- 



fast, taking what was left of our bear-meat 



^^_>^ along with us, and steered our usual course, 
due north, and about 1 2 o'clock we struck the León 
River, opposite the mouth of Armstrong's Creek. 
The country passed over to-day was very broken, and 
but little land on our route is fit for cultivation. We 
saw a small drove of buffalo, but our hunters did not 
get a shot at them, and the country where we found 
them was so broken we could not chase them on horse- 
back. One of our men, who had stopped behind 
awhile for some purpose, when he carne up, reported 
that he had seen an Indian following on our trail; but 
he was a "scary" sort of fellow, and we thought his 
story very doubtful. 

We passed a singular chain of high, bald hills to- 
day. Looking at them from a distance, we almost 
fancied we were approaching a considerable city, so 
much did they resemble houses, steeples, etc. They 
were entirely destitute of timber. 

The León River, where we struck it, is a small, 
rapid stream, shut in on both sides by high, rocky 
hills. We crossed over to the northern side, and 
"nooned" in a grove of pecans. These trees are full 
of the finest nuts we had ever seen — very large, and 
their hulls so thin we could easily crack them with our 




i6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



fingers. Before we left, we gathered a wallet-full of 
them, and strapped it on one of our pack mules. 

In the evening, we continued our route up Arm- 
strong's Creek, and struck camp a little after sundown 
near one of its head-springs. The valley along the 
creek is very beautiful, and the soil rich. Our hunter 
to-day killed a fat buífalo-cow on the way, and we 
butchered her, and packed the meat into camp. That 
was the first buíf alo-meat I ever tasted, and I thought 
it bettereven than bear-meat. The flesh of an oíd bull, 
however, I have found out since, is coarse, tough, and 
stringy, but the "hump" is always good, and so are the 
"marrow-bones" and tongue. 

Just after we had encamped, one of our men named 
Thompson, while staking out his horse, was bitten on 
the hand by a rattlesnake. It was a small one, how- 
ever, and he suffered but little from the eífects of the 
bite. We scarified the wound with a penknife, and 
applied some soda to it, and the next morning he was 
well enough to travel. I do not think the bite of the 
rattlesnake is as often fatal as people generally sup- 
pose. I have seen several men and a great many ani- 
máis bitten by them, and have never known death to 
ensue, except on one or two occasions. Still, I have no 
doubt there is great danger, whenever the fangs of 
the snake strike a large vein or artery. I believe the 
bite of the tarántula is much more fatal. I have seen 
two or three persons bitten by them in México, neither 
of whom recovered, although many remedies were 
used. The Mexicans say they will kill a horse in ten 
minutes. 

Night clear and cool — cool enough to make it very 
pleasant to sleep by our fires. Toward midnight we 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



17 



had an alarm that aroused all hands very suddenly. 
The sentry on post fired his gun off accidentally, and 
we supposed, of course, that the Indians were upon 
us. We were all up and ready with our guns by the 
time the sentinel carne in and told us it was a false 
alarm. I was so completely roused up by the excite- 
ment and bustle that I did not get to sleep for more 
than an hour afterward. The little breeze that rustled 
among the leaves and dead grass the early part of the 
night had died away, and a dead silence had settled 
over all. Not a sound could be heard, except the howl- 
ing of a solitary "cayote" far off among the hills, and 
the nipping of our animáis as they cropped the rank 
grass that grew around us. The silence was oppres- 
sive, and when one of the men muttered in his sleep, or 
one of our animáis coughed or snorted, it was actually 
a relief. I have frequently observed since, when 
camping out alone in the wilderness, the dead silence 
that sometimes prevails on a calm night. It is not so 
in the "settlements," for there is almost always some 
sound to break in upon it — the lowing of cattle, the 
tinkling of cow-bells, or the barking of a dog. 

October 22d. — After an early breakfast, we sad- 
dled up and traveled as fast as the broken and rocky 
state of the ground would permit. We intended to 
make a u forced march" to-day, as we expected by 
night to reach the locality where we were to commence 
our operations. Our horses had fared sumptuously 
the last two nights, and were in a condition to do a 
good day's work, but the f arther we went the rougher 
and more difficult the way became. Every now and 
then we would come to a space covered with "honey- 
comb rock," where we were compelled to travel our 



i8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



horses at the slowest gait. Dense chaparrals, too, 
frequently obstructed the way, and we either had to 
turn off and avoid them altogether, or else hunt out a 
route through them along dim and crooked trails. 
These causes delayed us so much that by noon we sup- 
posed we had only made about fifteen miles. We 
halted for half an hour at a pool of brackish water, to 
breathe the horses. We then continued on through 
the same sort of country, only more rugged still, if 
possible, and at sundown we found ourselves still half 
a day's journey from the Palo Pinto, where we expect 
to begin our work. Luckily, we found a pool of muddy 
water, on the edge of a small prairie, in which there 
was excellent grass for our animáis, where we un- 
packed and pitched camp for the night. If the night 
before had been unusually still and quiet, this one was 
just the opposite. If two or three "menageries" had 
been turned loóse in the vicinity just before we carne, 
monkeys and all, there could not have been a greater 
variety of sounds. First, a gang of wolves would 
serenade us for a minute or two, and then a catamount 
would come in on a high key, and, before he had f airly 
finished, a panther or a "lobo" would join in the 
chorus ; and so they kept it up until the broad daylight. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Palo Pinto at Last — The Camp in the Valley — Wallace's 
Last Look at the Camp — The Indians — A Tight Race — 
Wallace Kills His First Iridian. 



.CTOBER 23c!. — We traveled, I suppose, fif- 



teen or sixteen miles to-day, over a better and 



more open country, and about noon struck a 
branch of the Palo Pinto Creek, on which we intended 
to begin our work of locating and surveying land. 

We passed, on the way, several large Indian camps, 
but they were all oíd. In crossing a little sluggish 
stream of water to-day, one of our pack animáis 
"bogged" down, and it took us a half hour's hard 
work to get him out again on firm ground. 

Where we struck the south prong of the Palo Pinto 
we found a little valley, surrounded on all sides by 
high, rocky hills, in the southern extremity of which 
we determined to build a permanent camp, as a sort 
of base from which to carry on our work. Game was 
abundant in the vicinity, and the large pools along the 
creek were literally swarming with fish. We selected 
a position for our camp in a bend of the creek, the 
only entrance to which was by a narrow neck that 
could easily be guarded and defended against the ap- 
proach of an enemy. Approach at all other points was 
almost impossible, on account of the high and perpen- 
dicular banks of the creek. 

In the evening we hobbled our horses and all hands 
went to work to build a camp that would aíford us 
some protection in bad weather. By sundown we had 




20 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



it finished and covered in with a double layer of dry 
grass. We then covered the floor with a quantity of 
the same, on which we spread our blankets, and slept 
like "tops" till morning. 

October 2ph. — It was thought best that all hands 
should rest to-day, after our fatiguing journey; so we 
had nothing to do but to amuse ourselves as we chose. 
Some "lolled" about camp, passing the time in eating 
and sleeping. Some rigged up their "tackle" and went 
off fishing; while others gathered pecans, of which 
there was an abundance in the vicinity. For my part, 
I soon got tired of all these things, and determined 
that I would explore a little of the country around our 
camp. Taking my gun and hunting equipments, I 
strolled off in the direction of a pass that seemed to 
penétrate the hills toward the northern extremity of 
the valley. At the entrance of the pass, there was a 
solitary hill, in the shape of a sugar-loaf, which I 
climbed up, and from the top of which I had a full 
view of the little valley in which our camp lay, and of 
the camp itself, about a mile and a quarter off. I could 
see the smoke rising from it, and our animáis grazing 
around. Little did I think this was the last sight I 
should ever have of it ; but so it was, for I never saw it 
again. I descended the hill, and took my way up the 
pass, and, after following it perhaps half a mile, it 
widened out into a small valley, in which there was a 
grove of pecan trees, full of the finest nuts I had yet 
seen. 

I gathered two or three handfuls of pecans, and 
was sitting down at the foot of one of the trees crack- 
ing and eating them, when I happened to look down 
the pass the way I had come, and saw a party of 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



21 



twelve or fifteen Indians riding up it as fast as the 
broken nature of the ground would permit. I knew, 
if I remaíned where I was, that they would certainly 
discover me, and there was no chance for me to pass 
them unobserved. My only hope of escaping from 
them was in going ahead until I carne to some canon 
or ravine making into the pass, into which I might 
dodge and "lay low" until they had gone by. 

But there was no time to lose, so I seized my gun 
and put off up the pass at a brisk trot. The pecan 
grove concealed me for a while from the Indians; 
but the moment they passed it they caught sight of me 
and carne yelling and whooping after me as fast as 
they could urge on their horses, for the pass was 
broken and seamed with deep gullies, and for half an 
hour they gained but little, if any, upon me. 

All this time I had looked closely on both sides of 
the pass for some opening into the hills, but could see 
nothing of the sort: on both sides there appeared to 
be a solid wall of rock. At length the pass widened 
out into a small valley that was smooth and unbroken, 
and here the race between me and the Indians was a 
tight one, and a very exciting one to me, for though I 
didn't take time to look back, I could tell by the sound 
of their yells that they were gaining on me. 

At length, I saw an opening in the pass on the left, 
and made for it as fast as I could, hoping it would lead 
me into some canon or ravine that would be impass- 
able for horses, and so it proved; for, after going a 
few hundred yards, I found great difficulty in getting 
along, even on foot. The Indians were still after me, 
I knew from their yells, and would probably dismount 
and continué the chase on foot when they could ride 



22 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



no farther. I had but little fear, however, of their 
overtaking me, for, as I have said before, in those 
days I could run like a scared wolf when I let out the 
kinks. 

The canon I had entered twisted and turned about 
among the hills in such a way that I could not see the 
Indians, but I was satisfied that they were still trailing 
me, even after I could no longer hear their yells. For 
this reason, I never slackened my speed until I had 
penetrated several miles among the hills, when I 
halted for a few moments to catch my breath at a 
point from which I could see several hundred yards 
down the cañón, in the direction I had come. I was 
just on the eve of getting up to make a start again 
when an Indian carne in sight, traveling along the trail 
in a sort of "dog-trot," and at a rate which I knew 
would bring him to where I was in a few moments. 
The perseverance of this rascal in following me up so 
long, "stirred my gall," and I resolved to make him 
pay dearly for it, if I could. Near where I was resting 
myself, there was a large rock, just about high enough 
to conceal a man eífectually when kneeling down, and 
behind that I took my position, with the muzzle of my 
gun resting on its top. 

The Indian carne trotting along, totally unsus- 
picious that the "chase" had turned to bay, until he 
was within twenty paces of me, when I gave a low 
whistle, and he instantly stopped, looking cautiously 
around at the same time. I had a dead-rest for my rifle 
and I drew a bead about the centre of his breast and 
touched the trigger. At the crack of the gun he sprang 
into the air and dropped dead in his tracks. That was 
the first Indian I ever killed. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



25 



I loaded my rifle as quickly as possible, for fear 
others were cióse behind, and continued on up the 
ravine. I had gone, I suppose, about half a míle 
farther, when I carne to another canon, coming in at 
right angles to the one I was in, up which I took my 
way; for I thought, if the Indians still continued the 
pursuit to that point, they would naturally suppose I 
had gone on in the straight direction. I do not know 
if this "change of base" deceived them, or whether 
they followed me so far, but I neither saw ñor heard 
anything of them afterward. 

I kept on up this cañón for an hour after the sun 
went down and until it grew so dark I found there was 
great danger of breaking my neck by tumbling into 
some of the numerous gulches that ran across it, when 
I turned aside into a little nook, where I laid down 
without making any fire, and where I intended to rest 
myself until the moon rose, and then proceed on my 
way. But I was so exhausted by the long race I had 
had that I went to sleep, and never woke up until the 
sun had fairly risen, and was shining above the tops 
of the hills. 



CHAPTER VIL 



Lost Among the Ravines — A Lucky Shot — Comfortable 
Quarters — A Petrified Forest — The Mexican 
Gourd — Wallace Makes a Friend. 

OCTOBER 25th. — Here I am, miles away 
| from camp, and not the slightest idea of the 
direction I ought to travel to reach it. Not 
daring to go back by the way I had come, for fear of 
being waylaid by the Indians, who, I was satisfied, 
would make every effort to capture me, after they 
found out I had killed one of their party, I scarcely 
knew which way to turn. 

( At that time, you must remember, I was as "green 
as a cut-seed watermelon," and had no knowledge of 
the woods, and knew not how to steer my course 
through them. Under the same circumstances now, I 
should be as much at home as I would be here in my 
little ranch. ) 

I had not a mouthful to eat, ñor had I drank a drop 
of water since the day before, and I was suffering ex- 
ceedingly from thirst. Upon investigating the extent 
of my wordly goods and chattels, I found they con- 
sisted of the clothes I had on, my rifle, shot-pouch, a 
steel for striking fire, a butcher-knife, powder-horn 
(filled with powder), and a memorandum-book and 
pencil. 

Before I left my hiding-place, I reconnoitred the 
pass cautiously, and seeing nothing suspicious, I 
started off in the direction I supposed our camp to be. 
I was suffering very much from thirst, and when I had 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



2 7 



gone a f ew hundred yards, I thought myself fortúnate 
in finding a little pool of rain-water in the hollow of a 
rock. It was clear and cool, and I took a hearty drink 
of it, which refreshed me exceedingly, and gave me 
new life and strength. 

The whole of the country I traveled over was a 
succession of rugged, rocky hills, separated from each 
other by narrow gulches and cañons, and almost im- 
passable even for a man on foot. 

About 12 o'clock, tired out and very hungry, I 
stopped in one of these cañons to rest myself by the 
side of a small creek that ran briskly for a few steps, 
and then disappeared in the sand. I had been there 
but a little while when a large buck carne down to the 
creek to drink, within twenty yards of where I was 
sitting. I raised my rifle cautiously and fired at him. 
He ran oíf a short distance, as if he wasn't hurt at all, 
when he stopped and began to reel from side to side, 
and in a moment or so dropped down dead. I dragged 
him to the bank of the creek, where I skinned and cut 
him up, and in a little while had a side of his ribs 
roasting before a fire. He was one of the fattest deer s 
I ever saw, and as I thought it very uncertain when I 
would reach camp, I concluded it would be good 
policy to remain where I was the balance of the day, 
and jerk up as much of the flesh as I could conven- 
iently carry. So, after I had made a hearty dinner on 
my roasted ribs, I went to work and cut up a quantity 
of the meat into thin slices, which I placed on a low 
scaffold made of little poles, and then built a fire under 
them, and before sundown I had enough meat nicely 
"jerked" to last me for several days. I then looked 
around for secure quarters for the night, and a few 



28 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



yards below where I had butchered the deer, I found 
a shallow cave in a cliff , into which I carried my dried 
venison and some dry grass for a bed. I was very 
lucky in finding thís cave, for that night a torrent of 
rain fell, which would have made camping out of 
doors extremely unpleasant, especially as it was ac- 
companied by a strong and chilly wind ; but as it was 
I slept as u snug as a bug in a rug," and didn't mind the 
howling of the wind any more than that of the wolves, 
who were holding a "jubilee" over the remains of the 
deer I had killed. 

October 26. — When I awoke in the morning, it was 
broad daylight. The rain had ceased, but it was still 
cloudy and misty, and I couldn't see the sun, which 
was the only guide I had to indicate the direction I 
ought to go. 

With the experience I now have, I could have pur- 
sued my course with as perfect a certainty as if the 
sun had been visible, for I can tell the points of the 
compass very nearly at all times, by the bark on the 
trees, which is generally thicker on the north side, and 
by the moss growing upon them, or by sticking a pin 
perpendicularly into a piece of white cloth or paper. 
In the cloudiest day, the pin will cast a dim shadow 
opposite the sun, and thus point out its position. But, 
you see, at that time I was ignorant of all these things, 
and had to steer my course by guess, when the sun 
could not be seen ; and, unfortunately for me, a spell 
of misty weather had set in, that lasted for more than 
a week. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



29 



However, when I had made a breakfast off of my 
venison, and taken a drink of water from the creek, I 
packed up my jerked mear, tying it firmly together 
with thongs of bear-grass, and set out agaín in the 
direction I supposed the camp to be. The country con- 
tinued exceedingly rough and broken, and I was fre- 
quently headed off by impassable gulches and cañons, 
that I could only avoid sometimes by going a long 
distance out of my course. 

Toward noon, I carne to a little valley, in which 
there was a beautiful bold spring bursting out from 
the foot of the hills, and around it four or five large 
pecan trees, filled with fruit. Here I rested for an 
hour or so, and made a hearty dinner on venison and 
pecans, the pecans answering pretty well in the place 
of bread. In the bed of the little creek formed by this 
spring I picked up some curious-looking pebbles, 
about the size of buckshot, and put them in my shot- 
pouch. They proved to be "garnets," and I have no 
doubt that a quantity of them might be collected in 
that locality; but I am told they are not a very valu- 
able stone. I have found them in several other places 
in Texas; and at one point on the road from San 
Antonio to El Paso, I found a number of rubies, but 
I was ignorant of their valué at the time, and only 
picked up two or three as curiosities. 

Near the spring where I had stopped there was a 
petrified forest. The trees were all lying upon the 
ground, as if they had been blown down by a heavy 
wind, but in some instances they were nearly whole,. 
even the small twigs and branches being petrified. 

Toward evening I continued my route, and never 
stopped for a moment until the sun was about setting, 



3° 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



when I began to look out for a convenient place for 
camping. I had already passed several deep gulches 
or hollows, in which I expected to find water, but they 
were all dry. I went on until it grew so dark it was 
with great difficulty I made any headway at all, and 
at last I was compelled to stop without finding water. 
Although pretty hungry, I did not venture on my 
dried venison, for fear of increasing my thirst, and, 
having started a small fire, I lay down under a spread- 
ing live-oak, and soon forgot all my troubles in a 
sound sleep. 

October 2yth. — I woke just at daylight. The morn- 
ing was cloudy and still, and the first thing I noticed 
was a pattering sound, as if made by a small stream 
of water falling from a precipice. I got up and went 
in the direction of the sound, and in forty or fifty 
yards from where I had slept I carne to one of the 
finest springs I had ever seen. It broke out at the foot 
of a huge cliff, in a stream as large as my body, and, 
after running a little way it fell fifteen or twenty feet 
into the bottom of the ravine below, forming a beau- 
tiful cascade. Where the stream carne out at the foot 
of the cliff, there was a deep pool of clear, cold water, 
out of which I took a hearty drink; and after I had 
bathed my face and hands, I built up a small fire, and 
roasted some of my venison, and though I had neither 
bread, ñor salt, ñor coffee, I made a satisfactory 
breakfast upon it, with a few of my pecans. 

There were one or two Indian camps near this 
spring, but they did not seem to have been occupied 
for some time. In one of them I picked up a Mexi- 
can gourd that would hold about two quarts of water, 
which the Indians had evidently forgotten when they 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



31 



left. To my great joy, I found, on examining it, that 
it was not broken or cracked in any way. I had suf- 
fered a good deal for the want of something in which 
to carry a supply of water along with me, and I looked 
upon this gourd as a valuable addition to my worldly 
effects. I fastened a band of bear-grass around it, so 
that I could carry it conveniently when travelling. 

And here, most unexpectedly, I met up with a com- 
panion that was never separated from me afterward, 
(except on one occasion for a few days,) during all 
my wanderings. While I was sitting down eating my 
breakfast, I saw some animal poke his head out of a 
hollow in a rock, a few feet distant, and gaze at me, 
apparently with considerable curiosity. At first I took 
it to be a wolf, but, upon closer inspection, I saw that 
it was a dog, and I whistled and snapped my fingers 
at him to coax him out of his den. For a while he paid 
no attention to this, but at length he ventured out, at- 
tracted more, I think, by the smell of roasted meat 
than by the signs I made him. He approached me very 
cautiously, however, frequently stopping and looking 
back at his den; but he finally carne up to me, and 
I gave him a piece of venison, which he eagerly de- 
voured. He was the most wretched specimen of a dog 
I had ever seen. Both of his ears were cut olí cióse to 
his head, and he had been starved to such a degree 
that he looked for all the world like a pile of bones 
loosely packed in a sack of hair and hide. He was too 
weak to hold his tail up, which dragged upon the 
ground like a wolf's. I suppose he had been left be- 
hind by the party of Indians whose camp I had seen 
near the spring. I gave him as much venison as I 
thought he ought to eat at one time, which he swal- 



32 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



lowed so greedily that he choked himself several 
times. I named him "Comanche" on the spot, and we 
were soon upon the most friendly terms. 

Comanche's company, ugly and wolfish as he 
looked, was very acceptable to me, and relieved me, 
to some extent, from that feeling of loneliness usually 
experíenced by one like myself, unaccustomed to the 
solitude of the wilderness. I believe the company of 
a dog, next to that of a man, and more than that of 
any other animal, seems to satisfy that longing for 
companionship we feel when curcumstanced as I was 
then. 

After breakfast, I filled up my gourd with water 
from the spring, and took my way again across 
the hills, Comanche following at my heeís. By this 
time, the breakfast of venison I had given him had 
improved him amazingly, and his tail began to curl in 
its usual style. 

To-day I passed over the roughest and most deso- 
late-looking country I had seen yet — rocky hills, some 
of which were entirely bare of all vegetation, and 
others covered with dense chaparral and thorny 
bushes, through which I sometimes found it almost 
impossible to forcé my way. Game of all sorts seemed 
to be exceedingly scarce here, for except two or three 
antelopes I saw no animáis on my route ; but rattle- 
snakes were more numerous than I ever saw them 
elsewhere. I stirred them up every few yards as I 
walked. 

My gourd proved very serviceable to-day, for I 
did not see a drop of water, after leaving the spring, 
until night, and we would have suffered without it. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



33 



Ever since I had left the pass where the Indians 
gave me the run, I had scarcely had a glimpse of the 
sun, for it had been misty and cloudy all the time, but 
to-day it shone out for a little while, and, to my great 
disappointment, I found I had been traveling nearly 
due north, instead of south, which was the direction I 
ought to have taken. This was exceedingly vexatious, 
and from that time I abandoned all hope of finding 
the surveyors' camp. However, I did n't despair of 
making my way back into the settlements in the course 
of time, provided the Indians, or the snakes, or the 
"varmints" didn't get me on the route. I immediately 
changed my course, steering due south instead of 
north, passing over a desoíate and barren tract of 
country. 

Toward sundown, I carne to the top of a high ridge, 
at the foot of which there lay a little grassy valley, 
surrounded on all sides by steep rocky hills similar to 
the one on which I stood. I descended into this little 
valley just as the sun was setting, and, to my great 
joy, nearly the first thing I saw after entering it was 
a fine spring of water, breaking out from the foot of 
the hill I had just scrambled down. 

Near this spring, in a ledge of rocks, I found a sort 
of shallow cave, walled up in front with loóse stones, 
through which there was a narrow entrance. Inside 
there was a comfortable little room about twelve feet 
square, perfectly protected from the weather, and 
with a smooth, dry rock floor. It had evidently been 
built and used by the Indians long ago ; but there was 
nothing about it to indícate that they had occupied it 
for years. 



34 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



After supper, I cut a few armfuls of dry grass, 
which I carried into the cave, and with which I made 
a soft bed on the floor for myself, and another for 
Comanche near the entrance, and we slept soundly 
till morning. 



CHAPTER VIII 



My Little Valley — A Sad Accident— Wild Turkeys— On 
Crutches — On the Tramp Again — A Last Look. 

OCTOBER 2 8th.— I was up by daylight this 
( morning, and ready to start in half an hour, 
for it took me but a little while to cook and 
eat my breakfast, and clear away the dishes. 

As I passed through the little valley, I could not 
but admire its seclusion and beauty. It was shut in on 
all sides by high hills, covered with cedars and other 
evergreens. I suppose it was about half a mile long 
by a quarter in breadth, and a clear, rapid little 
stream ran through the centre of it. Scattered over it 
were many beautiful clumps of live-oaks, pecans, and 
other trees. I saw several flocks of deer grazing 
among the trees, and a great many wild turkeys, but 
I did not try to shoot any, as I had some of my jerked 
venison left, and did not want to waste my ammuni- 
tion. I had passed through the centre of the valley, 
and was in the act of climbing up the hill on the oppo- 
site side, when my foot slipped on a loóse stone, and 
sprained my ankle badly. I attempted to go on, but 
the pain was so great, whenever I put my foot on the 
ground, that I found it impossible to do so. 

Here was a pretty fix. As the backwoodsman said, 
when the Indians attacked his house just as he had 
filled his gun with water to swab it out, "It was very 
ridiculous." But I saw there was no alternative but 
to stop and remain patiently where I was until my 
ankle got well enough to enable me to travel again ; 



36 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



so I hobbled back with great pain and difficulty to the 
little cave on the side of the valley I had started from. 

By the time I reached the cave, I was sufíering very 
much, and my ankle had swollen out of all shape. I 
pulled off my shoe, and bathed my foot for half an 
hour ín the cold spring-water, and the pain left me 
in a great measure. However, I knew it would be 
days, perhaps weeks, before my ankle would be well 
enough for me to continué my journey, and knew not 
how to subsist in the mean time, without being able to 
hunt for game. This thought was anything but agree- 
able, and I felt rather despondent that night as I lay 
down upon my bed in the little cave. I thought, 
though, after all, I had much to be thankful for; for, 
if this accident had happened to me anywhere in the 
barren and desoíate country I had lately travelled 
over, where there was neither water to be had ñor 
game to be found, how much more hopeless and mis- 
erable my condition would have been. So I made my- 
self as contented as I could, and was soon fast asleep. 

October 2Qth. — I awoke about daylight, and the 
first thing I heard was a gang of wild turkeys clucking 
in the pecan-trees that grew a few steps from my 
cave. I seized my gun and crawled to the door. The 
trees were crowded with them, and selecting one of 
the largest gobblers, I fired at him, and he tumbled to 
the ground. u Comanche" seemed to understand 
thoroughly what was up, for as soon as the turkey 
struck the earth, he pounced upon it, and dragged it 
up to the mouth of my cave, where I picked and 
cleaned him nicely, and soon had him spitted before 
my fire, and in a couple of hours he was done to a turn. 

After breakfast, being uncertain as to the length 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



37 



of time I should be compelled to remain here, I took 
another "account of stock" on hand, and found that 
I was the fortúnate owner of the following property, 
viz. : one rifle in good condition ; one shot-pouch, and 
powder-horn filled with powder; one butcher-knife ; 
twenty-six bullets; steel for striking fire; one Mex- 
ican gourd; one memorandum-book and pencil; two 
plugs of tobáceo, and a pipe. Pretty "well to do," 
thinks I to myself, considering the "tightness of the 
times." I found it impossible to put my lame foot to 
the ground at all, without suffering great pain, so I 
concluded I would try and make a sort of crutch, that 
would enable me to hobble about on my sound foot. 
So I crawled out to where there was a bunch of young 
saplings growing, and, with much labor, at length 
cut down a forked one with my butcher-knife, 
which I thought would answer my purpose. By night 
I had it finished, and, on trial, I found that I could 
get along with it, after a fashion, on level ground. 
I have not much fear of starving now, for with my 
crutch I can follow any game that may come into the 
valley. 

After night, a heavy rain carne up from the north, 
accompanied by much thunder and lightning. The rain 
never ceased falling till near daylight, but my cave 
did not leak a drop, and the wall in front prevented 
the wind from driving it in on me. 

From this time, as long as I stayed in the valley, 
which was until the 20th of November, nothing of 
importance oceurred, and as one day was pretty much 
like another, I made but few notes in my memorán- 
dum book, only enough to keep from losing the day 
of the month. On the 2d of November, "I killed a 



38 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



deer;" on the 5th, "gathered about a bushel of pe- 
cans;" on the 7th, "killed another deer;" on the ioth, 
u my ankle improved so much I can walk a little with- 
out my crutch," etc. 

I never suffered a moment for food the whole time 
I was in the valley, for I could kill a deer or turkey 
whenever I wanted one, and could gather, with but 
little trouble, an abundance of pecans, and various 
kinds of haws and berries. It was truly lucky for me 
that the accident happened to me at this place. Had 
it occurred at almost any other on my route, the prob- 
ability is I should have starved to death, in my help- 
less condition. 

The day before I left the valley, I jerked up as 
much venison as I could conveniently carry along with 
me, and, on the morning of the 20th of November, 
I bade farewell to my little cave. Before leaving, I 
carved my ñame on a rock in front of my oíd quarters 
with my butcher-knife, together with the day of the 
month and year. I felt right sorry to leave my little 
valley, where I had passed so many peaceful, quiet 
days. My ankle had got entirely well, and, shoulder- 
ing my rifle and pack of provisions, and, with "Co- 
manche" following at my heels, I started off across 
the valley in a southern direction. "Comanche" had 
lived on the "fat of the land" since he had fallen in 
with me, and was now quite a respectable-looking 
dog, and his tail had a fierce and defiant curl. 

The sun shone brightly, and I had no difficulty in 
keeping the course I wanted to go. When I had 
ascended to the top of the opposite ridge of hills, I 
turned to take a last look at my little valley. I could 
see the entrance of my cave, the grove of pecans in 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



39 



front of it, and the smoke still curling upward from 
the fire I had left burning. 

The settlements have now extended beyond this 
point, and probably by this time some advócate of 
"squatter sovereignty" has taken possession of it; 
but when I was there, there was not a log cabin, I 
suppose, within a hundred miles of it. 

I travelled about ten miles this morning, over a 
very rough and rugged country, covered with thick 
chaparral, when I halted to rest for an hour or so. 
There was no water near, but I had a supply along 
with me in my Mexican gourd, which I had filled from 
the spring before leaving. 

After Comanche and I had eaten a bite, and rested 
ourselves sufficiently, I continued my route over the 
same sort of country till near night, when I encamped 
on the banks of a considerable creek — one of the head 
branches, I have supposed since, of the Palo Pinto. A 
small gang of buffalo were grazing in the creek velley, 
but they discovered me and ran off before I could get 
a shot at them. I, however, killed a f at doe after I had 
struck camp, which furnished me with an abundance 
of fresh meat. I also found some of the "wild arti- 
choke" growing near, which afforded an agreeable 
addition to my usual bilí of fare. 

I saw fresh Indian "signs" near my camp, which 
caused me some uneasiness, and I kept a good look- 
out for them. Comanche woke me several times 
during the night with his growling, but I supposed 
there was nothing more dangerous about than a cayote 
or catamount, attracted to the camp by the smell of 
fresh meat. 



CHAPTER IX 



Gold — Indian Smokes — Comanche Uneasy — Captured by the 
Indians — Mysterious Movements — The Oíd Squaw — 
What Next? 

NOVEMBER 2ist— Clear and cold. Aftcr 
breakfast I crossed the creek and went on 
five or six miles, through the most singular- 
looking country I ever saw. At a little distance, a 
person would have supposed on approaching it that 
it was a level plain, but on nearer inspection, though 
there were no hills or elevations of any size in it, he 
would have found the whole surface broken and rup- 
tured as if by an earthquake, and seamed with deep 
gulches and cañons that interlaced and crossed each 
other at all sorts of angles. I had more difiiculty in 
making my way over these five or six miles than I 
ever had experienced elsewhere in the same distance. 
I noticed in the bottoms of many of these gulches a 
great deal of quartz rock and black sand, which I had 
been told indicated the presence of gold, and I deter- 
mined, from mere curiosity, that I would "prospect" 
a little in one of the gulches, and see if I could not 
find some of the precious metal itself. I followed 
one of them down several hundred yards, and 
amongst a pile of broken rocks and gravel, thrown 
together by the violence of the torrent that rushed 
along the bed of the gulch in rainy weather, I picked 
up three pieces of puré gold, the largest of which 
weighed nearly a quarter of an ounce. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



41 



I have often thought since that, some time or other, 
I would return to that place and "prospect" it thor- 
oughly, but something has always prevented me from 
doing so. However, I am determined, just as saon as 
I can, that I will explore that región of country. I can 
find it again readily,I know,and I feel confident, from 
the little examination I made when there, that gold 
exists there in abundance. 

After leaving this locality, I struck a fine open 
prairie country, through which I travelled without 
difficulty for twelve or fifteen miles, when I carne to 
a heavily timbered bottom on a considerable stream, 
which I have since supposed was the León. 

I saw half a dozen "Indian smokes" on the way, 
and once I crossed a considerable trail, which was 
quite fresh. I pitched camp on the edge of the bottom, 
under the shelter of a spreading live-oak. After dark, 
Comanche appeared to be very uneasy and watchful. 
He woke me several times during the night, snuffling 
and growling, but I paid no particular attention to his 
movements, supposing his watchfulness was owing to 
the presence of wolves or other animáis in the vicinity 
of the camp. 

About daylight, I was suddenly roused by his furi- 
ous barking, and looking up, I was horrified to see a 
dozen Indians coming rapidly toward me, and not 
more than forty or fífty yards distant. I always slept 
with my gun by my side, and I seized it instantly, and 
sprang behind the tree under which I had been sleep- 
ing. As I did so, I saw that I was completely sur- 
rounded by Indians, and that there was no chance of 
making my escape. I resolved, however, to sell my 
life as dearly as I could, and as the circle of warriors 



42 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



drew closer and closer in upon me, I kept dodging 
from one side of the tree to the other, keeping my 
gun pointed all the time towards those that were 
nearest to me. Presently one of the Indians, who 
I supposed was chief, said something in a loud 
voice, to the balance, and they all halted. He then 
advanced a few steps toward me, and asked, in the 
Mexican language, "who I was, and what I was 
doing there?" I had picked up a smattering of 
Mexican after I carne out of Texas, and by signs 
and such phrases as I knew, I told him I was an 
American, that I had got lost from my party, and 
was on my way back to the "settlements." He then 
made signs to me to put down my gun, which I did, 
for I saw plainly that resistance was hopeless against 
such numbers, and I thought if I surrendered it was 
possible they might spare my life. As soon as I laid 
my gun upon the ground, the chief carne up and took 
possession of it, and then calling to the rest, they all 
advanced, and one of them seized my hands and 
bound them firmly with deer thongs behind my back. 

Bitterly did I regret that I had not fought it out 
with them to the last, instead of surrendering, but it 
was then too late to repent, and I made up my mind 
to meet my fate, whatever it might be, with as much 
courage as I could "screw up" for the occasion. 
Comanche, however, with less discretion than valor, 
"pitched into" the whole crowd while they were tying 
my hands, and it was only after they had kicked him 
and beaten him severely with their spear-handles, that 
he gave up the contest and retired to a safe distance 
in the rear. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



43 



As soon as my hands were tied, the chief ordered 
one of the Indians to pick up my shot-pouch and other 
equipments, and we all started off at a brisk walk up 
the river, keeping a little trail just outside of the 
timbered bottom. 

We had travelled in this way, I suppose, four or 
five miles, when the Indians gave three or four loud 
whoops, which were answered by similar whoops 
apparently about half a mile ahead, and in a little 
while we carne in sight of the lodges of a large en- 
campment. When within a short distance of the en- 
campment, a mixed crowd of oíd men, women, and 
boys carne out to meet us, who soon surrounded me 
in a dense mass, screaming, yelling and hooting, and 
calling me, I suppose, all sorts of hard ñames, but of 
course I couldn't understand their "lingo." I was glad 
when my guard took me away from them and carried 
me into one of the lodges, where they untied my hands 
and made signs for me to sit down. 

I took a seat on one of the skins scattered over the 
floor, in no very pleasant frame of mind, as you may 
well imagine, for I was pretty well satisfied, from the 
manner in which I had been treated by the Indians 
since they captured me, that they intended to put me 
to death. In a little while an oíd squaw carne into the 
lodge, bringing with her some buffalo-meat, and a 
gourd of water, which she put down by me, and made 
signs to me to eat and drink; but I had no appetite, 
and merely took a drink of the water. 

I could only see imperfectly what was going on out- 
side of the lodge, but I knew from the whooping and 
yelling, and the running to and f ro that something was 
up, and I was very much afraid that my arrival had a 



44 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



good deal to do with it. However, everything quited 
down in an hour or so. 

A strong guard was placed at night around the 
lodge in which I was confined, and this confirmed me 
in my suspicions that foul play was intended me, and 
at the same time precluded all hope of escape. My 
reflections during that night were anything but agree- 
able, as may well be supposed, and my sleep was 
broken and disturbed. 

About sunrise the next morning, the oíd squaw 
carne into the lodge again with some provisions, which 
she placed near me on the floor, and then she seated 
herself and looked at me a long time without saying 
a word. After a while, she took one of my hands in 
her wrinkled paws, and rubbed and patted it all the 
time humming, in a sort of "bumble-bee tone," one of 
the most mournful ditties I ever heard. At length, 
she got up to leave, but before she did so she tried 
very hard by signs to make me comprehend something 
she wished to say, but I couldn't understand what it 
was. She was as wrinkled and ugly as an oíd witch, 
but still there was something benevolent and kind 
about her features, that made me think she would 
willingly befriend me if she had it in her power. 

Not long after she had left the lodge, I heard a 
great "pow-wowing" outside, and then the most terri- 
ble racket commenced I ever listened to, yelling, 
whooping, and beating of drums, and rattling of 
gourds and the large shields made of dry hides, 
hung around with bears' tusks and pieces of metal, 
which the Indians make use of to stampede horses 
when on their stealing expeditions. In a few moments 
after the row commenced, several warriors carne into 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



45 



the lodge, and one of them proceeded to blacken my 
face and hands with a mixture he had in an earthen 
vessel. When they had painted me in this way, they 
made signs to me to follow them, which I did very 
unwillingly, for I had no doubt they were going to 
put me to death, with all the tortures to which I had 
been told the Indians usually subject those who are so 
unfortunate as to be made prisoners by them. 



CHAPTEK X 



Led Out for Execution — Saved at the Last Moment — A New 
Mother and a New Home — Comanche in Luck 
Again — "Lobo-lusti-hadjo." 

MY guard led me out into a sort of square 
between the lodges, in which all the In- 
dians belonging to the encampment — 
men, women, and children — were assembled, and 
proceeded to bind me hand and foot to a post firmly 
fixed in the ground. I was convinced then what my 
fate was to be, especially when I looked around and 
saw the terrible preparations that had been made for 
the ceremony of burning a prisoner at the stake. Near 
me there was a great heap of dry wood, and a íire 
burning, and twenty or thirty grim warriors stood 
around, painted and blacked up in the most fantastic 
way, with their tomahawks and scalping knives in 
their hands, who, I supposed, were to act as my 
executioners. 

When they had f astened me securely to the stake, 
the chief to whom I had surrendered rose up from a 
sort of platform, on which he had been sitting, and 
made a speech to the crowd. He spoke in his own 
language, and of course I could understand but little 
of what he said, but it seemed to me he was telling 
them how the white people had encroached upon them, 
and stolen from them their hunting-grounds, and 
driven them farther and farther into the wilderness, 
and that it was a good deed to burn every one of the 
hated race that fell into their hands. After he had 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



47 



finished speaking, the painted warriors formed a ring, 
and while one of them heaped up the drywood on all 
sides of me as high as my waist, the balance danced 
around me, singing the "death-song" and brandishing 
their tomahawks and knives. 

I thought, sure enough, my time had come, and I 
tried to summon up courage enough to meet my fate 
like a man. I don't know how far I would have suc- 
ceeded in this, for just at this moment the oíd squaw 
I had seen in the lodge rushed through the crowd of 
painted warriors, and began to throw the wood from 
around me, all the time talking and gesticulating in 
the wildest manner. One of the warriors seized her 
and put her out of the ring by main forcé, but she 
addressed herself to the crowd, and made them a reg- 
ular set speech, during which she every now and then 
turned and pointed toward me. I was satisfied that 
for some cause, I knew not what, the oíd squaw was 
doing her best to save me from burning at the stake, 
and it is hardly necessary to say I wished her success 
from the bottom of my heart. The crowd listened to 
her in silence for some time, when some began, as I 
thought, to applaud her, and others to cry out against 
her; but it seems that she at last brought over the 
majority to her side, for after a great deal of jabber- 
ing, a number of women rushed in between the war- 
riors and untied me from the stake in a moment, and 
handed me over to the oíd squaw for safe-keeping; 
and somehow, though I had understood but little of 
all that had been said on either side for or against me, 
I knew that I was saved, at least for the time. I felt 
as much relieved in my mind as when I drew the 
"white bean" at the city of Saltillo. 



4 8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



I learned afterward that the oíd squaw had lost 
one of her sons in a fight with some of the neighboring 
tribes, and that she had set up a claim to me, accord- 
ing to the Indian custom in such cases, as a substitute. 
But the Indians, I suppose, were bent on having a 
little fun, in which I was to play the part of frog, 
and they the pelters, and, as you have seen, it was 
only by the "skin of her teeth" that she carne out 
winner at the last quarter stretch. But I was very 
glad, I can tell you, that their frolic was stopped in 
this way, for I had n't the least ambition to perform 
the part they intended for me in the ceremony. 

My adopted mother conducted me to her lodge, 
patted me on the head, and sang another "bumble- 
bee ditty" over me, to all of which I made no objec- 
tion, as I was very glad to get off from being roasted 
alive on any terms. She then, as I supposed, made 
signs to me to "consider myself at home," and "as 
one of the family" from that time. In a little while 
afterward, some squaws brought me my gun and all 
my equipments, even to my Mexican gourd, and gave 
them to me. Even Comanche was hunted up and 
brought to the lodge, and delivered up to me as part 
of my property. Poor Comanche had seen a rough 
time, as well as myself, since we were separated. He 
was half starved, and looked as if he had been beaten 
unmercifully by every urchin in the encampment. He 
was real glad to see me again, and I "made myself at 
home" at once by giving him all the cold victuals I 
could find about the premises. 

The oíd squaw, my mother now, had one son still 
living with her, "Lobo-lusti-hadjo," or the "Black 
Wolf," and of course, according to the Indian laws, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



49 



he was now my brother, and, Indian though he was, 
be proved a brother to me as long as I lived with the 
tribe, which was about three months ; and when I left, 
it was with his knowledge, and he did all that he could 
to aid me in effecting my escape. I have met with few 
men anywhere that I liked better than Black Wolf. 
He was a man of good natural sense, and as brave as 
the bravest, and there was nothing cruel of blood- 
thirsty in his disposition, and, what is very unusual 
among the Indians, he was very much attached to his 
oíd mother, and did everything he could to make her 
comfortable in her oíd age. 

I might lengthen out my story a good deal by tell- 
ing of all that occurred to me while I was with these 
Indians — how I went with them upon their buffalo 
hunts, and once upon a "foray" with them into Méx- 
ico, where I acquired a considerable reputation as a 
promising young warrior in a hard fight we had there 
with the Mexican rancheros, etc., — but I am afraid 
I should grow tiresome, and for this reason, I will 
bring this part of my story to an end as soon as 
possible. 

The oíd chief to whom I surrendered in the first 
instance, for some cause had taken a great liking to 
me, and offered me his sister for a wife, and a home in 
his own wigwam ; but I preferred staying with Black 
Wolf and his oíd mother, for, in fact, the chief's sis- 
ter was n't as attractive as some women I have seen. 
She was tall and raw-boned, and her cheeks looked 
like a couple of small pack-saddles, and her finger 
nails were as long as a catamount's claws, and not 
overly clean at that, and I had no doubt she could 
have used them just as well "on a pinch" — at least 



So 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



that was my prívate opinión, though I did not tell the 
chief so. 

When I had been about two months with the tribe, I 
learned to speak their language pretty well, and Black 
Wolf never tired of asking me questions about the 
" white people," and their big canoes, steamboats, 
railroads, etc., for he had heard about all these things 
at the trading posts he had occasionally visited. I told 
him that the white people were so numerous that they 
had many "permanent camps" in which there were 
forty, fifty, and a hundred thousand inhabitants, and 
one in which there was more than half a million. 

He said he knew they were a powerful people, but 
he had no idea before that their number was so great, 
But he said what I had told him about them confirmed 
him in the opinión he had had for a long time, that 
the white people would gradually spread over the 
whole country, from ocean to ocean, and that the day 
would soon come when there would be nothing left 
to show that the Indians had once occupied all this 
vast territory, except here and there a little mound 
built over their graves, or a stone arrow-head, 
ploughed up by the white people where they had once 
hunted the buffalo or the grizzly bear. And as his 
reason for thinking so, he related to me the f ollowing 
legend, which he said had been told him by his father 
when he was a little boy. 



CHAPTER XI 



Black Wolf's Indian Legend — Determination to Escape — 
Back in the Settlements. 

AGREAT many years ago," said Black Wolf, 
u a young chief, belonging to one of the most 
-powerful tribes of Arkansas, concluded that 
he would visit one of the nearest white settlements, 
and see some of the people of whom he had heard so 
much. So he took his gun and dog, crossed the 'father 
of waters' in his canoe, and travelled for many days 
toward the rising of the sun, through a dense forest 
that had never echoed to the sound of the white man's 
axe. One day, just as the sun was setting, he carne to 
the top of a high hill, and four or five miles away, in 
the valley below, he saw the smoke curling up from 
the chimneys of the most western settlement, at that 
time, east of the Mississippi river. 

"As it was too late to reach the settlement before 
dark, the chief sought out the thickest part of the 
woods, where he spread his blanket upon the ground, 
and laid himself down upon it, with the intention of 
passing the night there. He had scarcely settled him- 
self to rest, when he heard a 'halloo' a long way off 
among the hills. Supposing that some one had got 
lost in the woods, he raised himself up and shouted 
as loud as he could. Again he heard the 'halloo' ap- 
parently a little nearer, but it sounded so mournful 
and wild, and so unlike the voice of any living being, 
that he became alarmed, and did not shout in return. 
After awhile,however, the long, mournful 'halloo-o-o' 



52 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



was repeated, and this time much nearer than before. 
The chief's heart beat loudly in his bosom, and a cold 
sweat broke out upon his f orehead ; f or he knew that 
tRe unearthly sounds that met his ears never carne 
f rom mortal lips. His very dog, too, seemed to under- 
stand this, for he whined and cowered down at his 
feet, seemingly in the greatest dread. Again the pro- 
longed and mournful 'hallo-o-o' was heard, and this 
time cióse at hand, and in a few moments and Indian 
warrior stalked up and took a seat near the chief , and 
gazed mournfully at him out of his hollow eyes, with- 
out uttering a word. 

u He was dressed in a different garb from anything 
the chief had ever seenwornbytheIndians,andheheld 
a bow in his withered hand, and a quiver, filled with 
arrows, was slung across his shoulders. As the chief 
looked more closely at him, he saw that his unearthly 
visitor was, in f act, a grinning skeleton ; for his white 
ribs showed plainly through the rents in his robe, and 
though seemingly he looked at the chief, there were 
no eyes in the empty sockets he turned toward him. 
Presently the figure rose up, and, in a hollow voice, 
spoke to the chief, and told him to return from 
whence he carne, for their race was doomed — that 
they would disappear before the white people like dew 
before the morning sun — that he was the spirit of one 
of his forefathers, and that he carne to warn him of 
the fate that awaited him and his people — that he 
could remember when the Indians were as numerous 
as the leaves on the trees, and the white people were 
few and weak, and shut up in their towns upon the 
sea-shore — now they are strong, and their number 
cannot be counted, and before many years they will 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



53 



drive the last remnant of the red race into the waters 
of the great western ocean. 'Go back,' said the figure, 
advancing toward the chief, and waving his withered 
hand, 'and tell your people to prepare themselves for 
their doom, and to meet me in the "happy hunting 
grounds," where the white man shall trouble them 
410 more/ 

"As he said this he carne up cióse to the chief, and 
placed his skeleton fingers on his head, and glared at 
him out of the empty sockets in his fleshless skull! 
'Son of a fading race, the last hour of your unfor- 
tunate people is fast approaching, and soon not a ves- 
tige of them will be left on all this wide continent. 
They and their forests, their hunting grounds, their 
villages and wigwams, will disappear forever, and the 
white man's cities and towns will rise up in the places 
where they once chased the buffalo, the elk, and the 
deer.' 

"The chief was as fearless a warrior as ever went 
to battle ; but when he felt the cold touch of that skele- 
ton hand, a horrible dread took possession of him, and 
he remembered nothing of what happened afterward. 
In the morning, when he woke up, the sun was shin- 
ing brightly over head, and the birds were whistling 
and chirping in the trees above him. He looked 
around for his gun, and was surprised beyond reason 
when he picked it up and found that the barrel was all 
eaten up with rust, and the stock so decayed and rotten 
that it fell to pieces in his hand. His dog was nowhere 
to be seen, and he whistled and called to him in vain; 
but at his feet he saw a heap of white bones, among 
which there was a skeleton of a neck, with the collar 
his dog had worn still around it! He then noticed 



54 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



that his buckskin hunting-shirt was decayed and mil- 
dewed, and hung in tatters upon him, and that his 
hair had grown so long that it reached down nearly 
to his waist. Bewildered by all these sudden and 
curious changes, he took his way toward the top of 
the hill, from which, the evening before, he had seen 
the smoke rising up from the cabins of the frontier 
settlement, and what was his astonishment when he 
saw, spread out in the valley below him, a great city, 
with its spires and steeples rising up as far as his eye 
could extend; and in place of the dense, unbroken 
forests that covered the earth when he carne, a wide, 
open country presented itself to his view, fenced up 
into fields and pastures, and dotted over with the 
white man's stately houses and buildings. 

u As he gazed at all this in surprise and wonder, he 
could distinctly hear, from where he stood, the distant 
hum of the vast multitude who were laboring and 
trafficking and moving about in the great city below 
him. Sad and dispirited, he turned his course home- 
ward, and travelling many days and nights through 
farms and villages and towns, he at length reached 
once more the banks of the mighty Mississippi. But 
the white people had got there before him, and in 
place of a silent and lonely forest, he found a large 
town built up where it had once stood, and saw a huge 
steamboat puffing and paddling along right where he 
had crossed the 'father of waters' in his little canoe. 
When he had crossed the river, he found that the 
white settlements had gone on a long ways beyond it, 
but at length carne to the wilderness again, and after 
wandering about for many moons, he at last carne up 
with the remnant of his people, but now no longer a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



55 



powerful tribe, such as he had left them, for they had 
dwindled down to a mere handful. His father and 
mother were dead, his brothers and sisters were all 
dead, and no one knew the poor oíd warrior that had 
appeared so suddenly among them. For a while he 
staid with them, and talked, in the strangest way, 
about things that had happened long before the old- 
est people in the tribe were born; but one day, after 
telling the story I have told to you, he took his way 
towards the setting sun, and was never seen more." 

When J had been about three months with the tribe, 
I began to long exceedingly to be once more with my 
own people. I lost all relish for "forays" and "hunt- 
ing expeditions," and thought only of effecting my 
escape, and making my way back to the "settlements." 
I became moody and discontented to such a degree 
that Black Wolf and his mother at length took notice 
of it. One day, when Black Wolf and myself were 
alone together in the lodge, he said to me, " My 
brother, what is it that makes you so unhappy and 
discontented ; for I have seen for some time that you 
have had something on your mind? Has any one 
mistreated my brother?" 

"No," said I, u every one has treated me well; but 
I tell you frankly, my brother" (for I knew he would 
not betray me), "I am pining to see my own people 
again, and I am determined to attempt to make my 
escape into the settlements, if it should cost me my 
life." 

"My brother," said Black Wolf, "I shall be very 
sorry if you leave us, and so will my oíd mother ; but it 
is not strange you should wish to see your own people 



56 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



again, and you must go. I will help you all that I can 
to reach the settlements in safety. But be careful," 
said he, u not to say a word about this to anybody, 
for if you should attempt to escape and be recaptured, 
nothing could save your life, and I should be put to 
death for having aided you." 

As Black Wolf advised me, I said nothing to any 
oneofmyintentionof leaving, except to his oíd mother. 
She tried very hard to dissuade me from going, but 
íinding I was resolute in my purpose, she gave up 
the point, and sang two or three more of her "bumble- 
bee" ditties over me at parting, which seemed to 
lighten her grief considerably. She also made me a 
present of a dried terrapin's tail, which she said 
would protect me from all danger from bullets in 
battle. I have kept the terrapin's tail, out of respect 
for the oíd squaw, but I must say, in the many "scrim- 
mages" I have been in since then with the Mexicans 
and Indians, I have had more faith in the eflicacy of 
a tree or a stump to protect me from bullets, than in 
the charm she gave me. She also gave me a necklace 
made of the claws of the grizzly bear and porcupine 
quills, and a large copper ring to wear in my nose. 

Black Wolf and I made our preparations quietly 
for the journey, but without exciting any suspicions 
on the part of the other Indians that I had any inten- 
tion of quitting the tribe, as we told them we were 
going into the "hills" to take a bear hunt, and would 
be absent possibly several days. Black Wolf led the 
way, and Comanche and I followed, and the first day 
we travelled at least thirty miles from the village, 
and camped together that night for the last time. ín 
the morning, before we separated, Black Wolf traced 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



57 



out upon the ground a map of the route I had to go, 
marking down upon it accurately all the ranges of 
hills and watercourses I would pass on the way. He 
then bade me good-by, and shouldering his gun, sor- 
rowfully took his course back toward the village, and 
was soon lost sight of among the hills. 

During my stay with the Indians I had acquired 
considerable knowledge of the woods, and how to 
steer my course through them even when the sun 
was not visible, and, in eight days after parting from 
Black Wolf, I arrived safely at the "settlements," 
and thus ended my first expedition into the "wilder- 
ness." Comanche lived with me until he died of oíd 
age, and left a progeny behind him, that, for trailing 
and fighting "varmints" and "sucking eggs," can't be 
beat by any dogs in the State of Texas. 



CHAPTER XII 



Belated in the Woods — Wolves on the Track — One Fellow 
Out of the Way — Reinforcements Corning Up — A 
Hand-to-Hand Fight. 

HAVE I ever told you, asked Big-Foot, about 
the "tussle" I had with the wolves a short 
time after I carne to Texas? It was a sort 
of initiation fee paid for my entrance into the mys- 
teries of border life, and I don't think I have ever 
been as badly frightened before or since. It happened 
in this way: 

One very cold evening, two or three hours, per- 
baps, before sundown, I concluded to take a little 
round in the woods, by way of exercise, and bring 
home some f resh venison for supper ; so I picked up 
" sweet-lips " (his rifle) and started for a rough 
broken piece of country, where previously I had al- 
ways found deer in abundance. But, somehow, the 
deer did n't seem to be stirring that evening, and I 
walked two or three miles without finding a single 
one. After going so far, I hated to return without 
meat, and I kept on, still hoping to find the deer be- 
fore it go too dark to shoot ; but at last I had to give 
it up, and turned my course back toward home again. 

By this time the sun was setting, and I hurried up 
as fast as possible, to get out of the chaparral and into 
the prairie before night carne on. All the evening I 
had heard the wolves howling around in an unusual 
way, but I had no fear of them, as I had been told 
they seldom, if ever, attacked a man in Texas. When 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



59 



I had gone back perhaps a half mile or so, a large 
gray wolf trotted out into the path before me, and 
commenced howling in the most mournful manner; 
and, in an instant, he was answered by a dozen other 
wolves in the hills around us. Thinks I, oíd fellow, 
if you are hatching a plot for my benefit, Pll make 
sure of you anyhow; so I brought "sweet-lips" to 
range on his shoulder-blade, and at the crack of the 
gun he gave one spring into the air and dropped as 
dead as a hammer in his tracks. 

But, somehow, although I can't say I felt any fear 
of them, my suspicions were aroused as to foul play 
on the part of the gentlemen who were answering 
him from the hills, and I loosened "oíd butch" in the 
sheath, and rammed another bullet down "sweet lips" 
and as soon as I had done so, I put out for home again 
in double-quick time. But the faster I went the faster 
the wolves followed me, and looking back after a 
littlewhile,Isaw twenty-five or thirty "lobos" (a large, 
fierce kind of wolf, found only in México and Texas) 
trotting along after me at a rate I knew would soon 
bring them into cióse quarters; and in the bushes and 
chaparral, that bordered the trail I was travelling, I 
could see the gleaming eyes and pointed ears of at 
least a dozen others coming rapidly toward me. 

I saw in a minute that they meant mischief, but I 
knew it was useless to try to beat a wolf in a foot- 
race. However, I resolved to keep on as long as they 
would let me, and when they closed in, that I would 
gjVe them the best ready-made fight I had "in the 
shop." So I stepped out as briskly as I could, and the 
wolves trotted after me, howling in a way that made 
my hair stand on end ancl my very blood run cold. 



6o 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



A dozen times I wished myself back again safe in 
"oíd Virginny," where a man might travel for a hun- 
dred miles without meeting up with anything more 
dangerous than a 'possum ; but wishing didn't stop the 
wolves, so I let out my "best licks," hoping that I 
could make home before they could muster up courage 
enough to attack me. 

But, I "reckoned without my host," for one big 
fellow, more daring or hungry than the rest, made a 
rush at me, and I barely had time to level my gun and 
fire, for he was touching the muzzle of it when I 
pulled the trigger. He fell dead at my feet, but, as 
if this had been a signal for a general attack, in an 
instant the whole pack were around me, snarling and 
snapping, and showing their white teeth in a way that 
was anything but pleasant. 

I fought them oíf with the breech of my gun, for 
they did n't give me any chance to load it, retreating 
all the while as rapidly as I could. Once so many of 
them rushed in upon me at the same time, that in spite 
of all my efforts, I f ailed to keep them at bay, and they 
dragged me to the ground. I thought for an instant 
that it was all up with me, but despair gave me the 
strength of half a dozen men, and I used "oíd butch" 
to such a good purpose that I killed three outright and 
wounded several others, which appeared somewhat 
to daunt the balance, for they drew olí a short distancé 
and began to howl for reinforcements. 

The reinforcements were on their way, for I could 
hear them howling in every direction, and I knew that 
I had no time to lose. So I put off at the top of my 
speed, and in those days it took a pretty fast Spanish 
pony to beat me a quarter when I "let out the kinks." 



i 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 6 1 

I let 'em out this time with a will, I tell you, and f airly 
beat the wolves for a half mile or so, but my breath 
then began to fail me, and I could tell by their cióse 
angry yelps that the devils were again closing in upon 
me. 

By this time I was so much exhausted that I knew 
I should make a poor fight of it, more especially as I 
could perceive, from the number of dark forms be- 
hind me, and the gleaming eyes and shining teeth that 
glistened out of every bush on the wayside, that the 
wolves had had a considerable addition to their num- 
ber. It may be thought strange that I didn't "take to a 
tree," but there were no trees there to take to — 
nothing but stunted chaparral bushes, not much high- 
er than a man's head. 

I thought my time had come at last, and I was al- 
most ready to give up in despair, when all at once I 
remembered seeing, as I carne out, a large lone oak- 
tree, with a hollow in it about large enough for a man 
to crawl into, that grew on the banks of a small cañón 
not more than three or four hundred yards from 
where I then was. I resolved to make one more effort, 
and, if possible, to reach this tree before the wolves 
carne up with me again; and if ever there was good, 
honest running done, without any throw-off about it, 
I did it then. The fact is, I believe a man can't tell 
how fast he can run until he gets a pack of wolves 
after him in this way. A fellow will naturally do his 
best when he knows that, if he does n't, in twenty 
minutes he will be "parcelled out" among as many 
ravenous wolves, a head to one, a leg to another, an 
arm to a third, and so on. At least that was the effect 
it had on me, and I split the air so fast with my nose 



62 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



that it took the skin off of it, and for a week afterward 
ít looked like a peeled onion. 

However, I beat the wolves once more fairly and 
squarely, and not much time to spare either, for just 
as I crawled into the hollow of the tree, which was 
about as high as my head from the ground, the raven- 
ous creatures were howling all around me. At the 
bottom of the hollow I found a "skunk" snugly 
stowed away, but I soon routed him out, and the 
wolves gobbled him up in an instant. He left a smell 
behind him, though, that was anything but agreeable 
in such cióse quarters. However, I was safe there, at 
any rate, from the attacks of the wolves, and all the 
smells in the city of New Orleans couldn't have driven 
me from my hole just at that time. 

The wolves could only get at me one at a time, and 
with "oíd butch" in my hand, I knew I could manage 
a hundred in that way. But such howling and yelling 
I never heard before or since but once, and that was 
when I was with the Keechies, and a runner carne in 
and told them their great chief "Bufialo Hump," had 
been killed in a fight with the Lipans ! They bit, and 
gnawed, and scratched, but it was n't any use, and 
every now and then a fellow would jump up and poke 
his nose into the hollow of the tree ; but just as sure 
as he did it,he caught a wipe across it with "oíd butch" 
that generally satisfied his curiosity for a while. All 
night long they kept up their serenade, and, as you 
may well suppose, I did n't get much sleep. However, 
the noise did n't matter, for I had got several 
severe bites on my arms and legs and the pain I suf- 
fered from them would have kept me awake anyhow. 

Just at daylight the next morning the wolves began 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



63 



to sneak off, and when the sun rose not one was to be 
seen, except three dead ones at the root of the tree, 
that had come in contact with "oíd butch." I waited 
a while longer, to be certain they had all left, when I 
crawled out of my den, gave myself a shake, and 
found I was all right, except a pound or so of flesh 
taken out of one of my legs, and a few scratches on 
my arms. I hobbled back home ; and for a long time 
afterward, whenever I heard the howling of wolves, 
I always felt a little uneasy. 

I found out, the next day, why the wolves had at- 
tacked me in the way they did. I had a bottle of assa- 
foetida in my trunk, which somehow had got broken 
and run out among my clothes, and when the wolves 
pitched into me I had on a coat that had been wet 
with the confounded stuff, and smelt worse than a 
polecat. I had often heard that assafoetida would at- 
tract wolves, but I always thought, before this, that 
it was a sort of old-woman's yarn ; but, it's a f act, and 
if you don't believe it, go some dark night into a thick 
chaparral, where wolves are numerous, and pour about 
a gilí over your coat, and then wait a little, and see 
what will turn up ; and if you don't hear howling and 
snapping, and snarling, I'll agree to be stung to death 
by bumble-bees. 



CHAPTER XIII 



A Struggle for Life — Fight with the "Big Indian." 

ELL, how was it, Big-Foot," I asked, 
u about that fight you had with the big 
Indian in the canon?" "The fact is, sir," 
said he, "I caught a tremendous cold last night, and 
I'm so hoarse now I can hardly talk at all. Tve got 
this cabin chinked entirely too tight, (looking around 
at the cracks, through which the stars could be seen 
twinkling in every direction), and I shall ha ve to 
knock out some more of the 'daubin.' Nothing like 
a tight room to give a man a cold. When I went on 
to the 'States,' five or six years ago, I had a cold con- 
stantly from sleeping in rooms that were as tight as 
a bottle. People want a supply of fresh air just as 
much as they do their regular meáis, and occasionally 
something to clear the cobwebs out of their throats;" 
and as he said this, Big-Foot looked longingly toward 
the córner of the cabin in which the jug was deposited. 

I took the hint, and handed over the "red-eye," 
when he glued the mouth of the jug affectionately to 
his lips, took observation of the stars through one 
of the chinks for about half a minute, and then setting 
it down with a long breath, he wiped his lips on the 
culi of his hunting-skirt, deliberately drew his butcher- 
knife from its sheath, cut a section from a plug of 
tobáceo, crammed it into his mouth, and giving a pre- 
liminary squirt, to see if his spitting apparatus was 
all in good trim, he began his yarn of the "struggle 
for life." 




BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



65 



In the fall of '42, the Indians were worse on the 
frontiers than they had ever been before,or since. You 
could n't stake a horse out at night with any expecta- 
tion of finding him the next morning, and a fellow's 
scalp was n't safe on his head five minutes, outside of 
his own shanty. The people on the frontiers at last 
carne to the conclusión that something had to be done, 
or else they would be compelled to fall back on the 
"settlements," which you know would have been re- 
versing the natural order of things. So we collected 
together by agreement at my ranch, organized a com- 
pany of about forty men, and the next time the In- 
dians carne down from the mountains (and we had n't 
long to wait for them) we took the trail, determined 
to follow it as long as our horses would hold out. 

The trail led us up toward the head-waters of the 
Llano, and the third day out, I noticed a great many 
"signal smokes" rising up a long ways off in the di- 
rection we were travelling. These "signal smokes" 
are very curious things anyhow. You will see them rise 
up in a straight column, no matter how hard the wind 
may be blowing, and after reaching a great height, 
they will spread out at the top like an umbrella, and 
then, in a minute or so, puff ! they are all gone in the 
twinkling of an eye. How the Indians make them, I 
never could learn, and I have often asked oíd fron- 
tiersmen if they could tell me, but none of them could 
ever give me any information on the subject. Even 
the white men who have been captured by the Indians, 
and lived with them for years, never learned how 
these "signal smokes" were made. 



66 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



Well, as I was saying, on the third day out> we 
found Indian "signs" as plentiful as pig-tracks around 
a corn crib, and I told the captain we would have to 
move very cautiously, or we would be apt to find our- 
selves, before long, in a hornet's nest. That night we 
camped at a "water-hole," and put out a double 
guard. Just before the sun went down, I had noticed 
a smoke, apparently about three miles to the north- 
east of us, and felt satisfied that there was a party of 
Indians encamped at that place. So I went to the cap- 
tain and told him, if he would give me leave to do so, I 
would get up an hour or two before daylight and re- 
connoitre the position, and find out whether there were 
any Indians there or not, and if so, to what tribe they 
belonged, what was their number, etc. He was willing 
enough to let me go, and told the guards to pass me 
out whatever way I wanted to leave. 

I whetted up "oíd butcher" a little, rammed two 
bullets down the throat of u sweet lips," and about two 
hours before daylight I left camp, and started off in 
the direction of the smoke I had seen the evening be- 
fore. The chaparral, in some places, was as thick as 
the hair on a dog's back, but I "scuffled" through it in 
the dark, and after travelling perhaps a mile and a 
half, I carne to a deep cañón, that seemed to head up 
in the direction I had seen the smoke. I scrambled 
down into it and waited until day began to break, and 
then slowly and cautiously continued my course along 
the bottom of the cañón. 

The cañón was very crooked, and in some places so 
narrow that there was hardly room enough in it for 
two men to travel abreast. At length I carne to a place 
where it made a sudden bend to the left, and just as 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



6 7 



I turned the córner I carne plump up against a big 
Indian, who was coming down the canon, I suppose, 
with the intention of spying out our camp. We were 
both stooping' down when we met, and our heads carne 
together with considerable forcé, and the Indian rolled 
one way and I the other. 

Both rose about the same time, and so unexpected 
was the encounter, that we stood for a moment uncer- 
tain what to do, and glaring upon each other like two 
catamounts, when they are about to dispute the car- 
cass of a dead deer. The Indian had a gun as well as 
I, but we were too cióse to each other to shoot, and it 
seemed we both carne to the same conclusión as to 
what was best to be done at the same instant, for we 
dropped our rifles and grappled each other without 
saying a word. 

You see, boys, I am a pretty stout man yet, but in 
those days, without meaning to brag, I don't believe 
there was a white man west of the Colorado River 
that could stand up against me in a regular catamount, 
bear-hug, hand-to-hand fight. But the minute that I 
a hefted" that Indian I knew I had undertaken a job 
that would bring the sweat from me (and maybe so, I 
thought, a little blood too) before it was satisfactorily 
finished. He was nearly as tall as I am, say six feet 
one or two inches, and would weight, I suppose, about 
one hundred and seventy-five pounds net, for he had 
no clothes on worth mentioning. I Had the advan- 
tage of him in weight, but he was as wiry and active 
as a cat and as slick as an eel, and no wonder either, 
for he was greased from head to foot with bear's oil. 

At it we went, in right down earnest, without a 
word being spoken by either of us, first up one side of 



68 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



the cañón, then down in the bottom, then up the other 
side, and the dust and gravel flew in such a way that 
if any one had been jpassing along the bank above, 
they would have supposed that a small whirlwind was 
raging below. I was a little the strongest of the two, 
however, and whenever we rose to our feet, I could 
throw the Indian easily enough, but the moment he 
touched the ground, the "varmint" would give him- 
self a sort of a squirm, like a snake, and pop right up 
on top of me, and I could n't hold him still a moment, 
he was so slick with bear's grease. Each of us was 
trylng to draw his butcher-knife from the sheath all 
the time, but we kept each other so busy, neither could 
get a chance to do it. 

At last, I found that my breath began to fail me, 
and carne to the conclusión, if something was n't done 
pretty soon, I would "have my note taken" to a cer- 
tainty, for the Indian was like a Lobos wolf, and was 
getting better the longer he fought. So, the next time 
we rose, I put out all the strength I had left in me, 
and gave him a "back-handed trip," that brought his 
head with great forcé against a sharp-pointed rock 
upon the ground. He was completely stunned by the 
shock for an instant, and before he fairly carne to, I 
snatched my knif e from the sheath, and drove it with 
all my strength up to the hilt in his body. The moment 
he felt the cold steel he threw me off of him as if I had 
been a ten-year-old boy,sprang upon me before I could 
rise, drew his own butcher-knife, and raised it above 
his head with the intention of plunging it into my 
breast. 

I tell you what, boys, I often see that Indian now in 
my dreams, particularly after eating a hearty supper 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



6 9 



of bear's ment and honey, grappling me by the throat 
with his left hand, and the glittering butcher-knífe 
lííted up above me in his right, and his two fierce 
black eyes gleaming like a panther's in the dark! 
Under such circumstances, it is astonishing how fast 
a man will think. He thinks faster than the words can 
fly over those "new-fangled" telegraph lines. I looked 
up to the blue sky, and bid it a long farewell, and to 
the green trees, the sparkling waters, and the bright 
sun. Then I thought of my mother, as I remembered 
her when I was a little boy, the "oíd home," the apple 
orchard, the brook where I used to fish for minnows, 
and the "commons," where I used to ride every stray 
donkey and pony I could catch; and then I thought 
of Alice Ann, a blue-eyed, partridge-built young 
woman I had a "leaning to," who lived down in the 
Zumwalt Settlement. All these, and many more 
thoughts besides, flashed through my mind in the little 
time that knife was gleaming above my breast. 

All at once the Indian gave a keen yell, and down 
carne the knife with such forcé that it was buried to 
the hilt in the hard earth cióse to my side. The last 
time I had thrown the Indian, a deep gash had been 
cut in his forehead by the sharp-pointed rock, and the 
blood running down into his eyes from the wound 
blinded him, so that he missed his aim. I fully ex- 
pected him to repeat his blow, but he lay still, and 
made no attempt to draw the knife from the ground. 
I looked at his eyes, and they were closed hard and 
fast, but there was a devilish sort of grin still about 
his mouth, as if he had died under the belief that he 
had sent me before him into the "happy hunting 
grounds." 



7o 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



I threw him olí of me, and he rolled to the bottom 
of the cañón "stone dead." My knife had gone di- 
rectly to his heart. I looked at him some time, lying 
there so still, and stifíening fast in the cold morning 
air, and I said to myself, "Well, oíd fellow, you made 
a good fight of it anyhow, and if luck hadn't been 
against you, you would have 'taken my sign in,* too, 
to a certainty, and Alice Ann would have lost the best 
string she's got to her bow." 

"And now," said I to myself, "oíd fellow, I am 
going to do for you what I never did for an Indian 
before. I am going to give you a decent Christian 
burial." So I broke his gun into a dozen pieces and 
laid them beside him, according to the Indian custom, 
so it might be handy for him when he got to the 
"happy hunting grounds" (though if they have n't 
first-rate smiths there, I don't think it will be fit for 
use soon) and then I pulled up some pieces of rock 
from the sides of the canon, and piled them around 
and over him until he was completely covered, and 
safe from the attacks of cayotes and other animáis, 
and there, I have no doubt, his bones are to this day. 

This is a true account of my fight with the big 
Indian in the cañón. 



CHAPTER XIV 



A Tight Place — Indian Signs — Ben Wade's Motto — Ben and 
the Buffalo Ribs — "Ingins About" — Here They Come. 

IHAVE been in many tight places, said, "Big- 
Foot," but when I was in charge of the mail- 
coach, running from San Antonio to El Paso, I 
got into one I thought I should never squeeze out of 
with a whole hide, but I did. 

In all the rows and scrapes IVe been in since I 
carne to Texas, I have never been seriously wounded 
either with an arrow or a ball, which, considering I 
am a good-sized mark to shoot at, is something 
strange. I have known a great many men who, as 
General Scott said of General Johnston, had an "un- 
fortunate knack" of getting wounded in every íight 
they went into, but I have not been one of that sort. 
They say those who are born to be hung won't be 
shot or drowned, and perhaps that may account for it. 

But I am flying oñ from my story before I have 
fairly commenced it. We had been traveling hard ever 
since 1 2 o'clock at night, in order to make the water- 
ing-place at Devil's River, where I intended to "noon 
ít" and graze our aminals for two or three hours. 
After daylight I noticed several "Indian smokes" 
rising up and disappearing; but apparently they were 
a long ways off, and once we passed a considerable 
"trail," where at least fifteen or twenty horses had 
crossed the road. Altogether, I did n't like the sign, 
and I told the boys to keep a bright look out, as I 
felt sure the Indians were hatching some devilment 



72 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



for our benefit. However, we reached the "water- 
hole" in safety about noon, watered all our animáis, 
and hobbled them out to graze. I had eight rnen with 
me, most of them oíd frontiersmen, who had seen 
much service, and were as good fighters (with one 
exception) as ever drew a bead upon an Indian, for I 
had seen them tried on several oceasions before. 

Near the watering-place there was about a quarter 
of an acre of very thick chaparral, and after we had 
taken a bite to eat, I told the boys to drag the coach 
up to the edge of it, and that they could then spread 
down their blankets and take a "snooze," for they had 
been up all the night before, and were prettywell"beat 
out." I was considerably "fagged' f myself, but some- 
how, although I had seen nothing in particular to ex- 
cite my suspicions since we stopped at the watering- 
place, I felt úneasy, and determined to keep watch 
while the balance slept. 

If there had been nothing else, the appearance of 
the country around our encampment was enough 
to make one uneasy, for it had a real u Inginy look" 
— broken rocky hills, covered here and there with 
clumps of thorny shrubs and stunted cedars, and 
little narrow valleys or cañons between them, in 
which there was nothing but a few patches of 
withered grass, from which our poor animáis were 
picking a scanty repast. On all sides these rugged, 
rocky hills shut in the little canon where we were en- 
camped; so that we could see but a short distance in 
any direction. I picked up my rifle and walked off to 
a little knoll about íifty or sixty yards to the right of 
our encampment, from which the best view could be 
had of the approach of an enemy, where I seated my- 



i 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



73 



self, resolved that I would watch everything closely 
that looked at all suspicious. 

I don't know how it is with others, but with me 
there are times when I feel low-spirited and depressed, 
without being able to account for it, and so it was on 
this occasion. The breeze rustled with a melancholy 
sound through the dead grass and stunted bushes 
around me, and the howling of the solitary cayote 
among the hills appeared to me unusually mournful. 
Nothing else could be heard except the snoring of 
Ben Wade in camp, who was one of the most provi- 
dent men, where eating and sleeping were concerned, 
I ever met with. Ben's motto was, "Never refuse to 
eat or sleep when you are on the 'plains,' if you should 
have a chance forty times a day, for you can't tell 
how soon the time may come when you will have to 
go forty days without any chance at all. In that way," 
says Ben, "you can keep up and stand the racket a 
good while." Ben was n't like a good many people I 
have known, whose preaching and practice did n't 
agree; he was always on hand when there was any- 
thing to eat, and the minute he was ofí guard, you 
might hear him snoring like a wild mulé. 

One night, when Ben and I were on a spying ex- 
pedition in one of the Waco villages, the dogs discov- 
ered us, and soon roused the whole tribe with their 
barking. In a little while, the warriors began to pour 
out of their lodges, with their bows and arrowsin their 
hands, and we concluded we could íind a healthier 
locality a few miles off, and made tracks for the bot- 
tom timber, about two miles from the village. But 
just as we were passing the last lodge, Ben discovered 



74 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



a side of buffalo ribs roasting before a fire in front 
of ít. 

"Cap," says he, "let's stop and take a bite; there's 
no telling when we may get another chance," and at 
that very minute we could hear the red devils yelling 
behind us like a pack of hungry wolves. 

"Well," said I, "Ben, if you are willing to sell your 
scalp for a 'mess of pottage,' you can stop, but I set a 
higher price on mine, and can't tarry just now." 

"But," says he, "Cap, it's a rule Tve always stuck 
to, never to let slip a chance of taking a bite when Fin 
'on the war-path,' and I don't like to break through it 
this late in the day." 

Seeing I made no signs of stopping, for some of the 
Indians were then within a hundred yards of us, 
screeching like so many catamounts, he said: 

"If you won't wait, I must take the ribs along with 
me," and I wish I may be cut up into bait for mud cats 
if he did n't grab them up and sling them over his 
shoulder, though half a dozen of the foremost In- 
dians were in sight of us. 

Ben and I were both pretty hard to beat in a foot- 
race at that time, but for about a mile and a half, the 
Indians compelled us to put in our best licks to keep 
ahead of them : still the darkness of night was in our 
favor, and we got saf ely into the bottom. As soon as 
I thought we were out of immediate danger, I stopped 
to catch my breath a little, and said to Ben : 

"Ben, as you would bring those ribs along, I be- 
lieve I'll take one of them now. My run has given 
me an appetite." 

"Fm sorry," says he, "Cap, but you spoke too 
late; Tve polished them all." 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



75 



And, if you'll believe me, it was a f act ! While we 
were running for dear life, with a dozen red devils 
screeching after us, Ben had picked the ribs as clean 
of meat as the ivory-handle of my six-shooter. 

Notwithstanding all this, Ben was as true blue as 
ever fluttered, and would do to "tie to" when danger 
was about. Feeling pretty sure that it was about now, 
though I did not know exactly why, I determined to 
go and wake Ben up, and get him to help me bring 
in the horses and mules. Just at I carne to this con- 
clusión, I saw one of the horses raise up his head and 
look for a long time in a certain direction, and a few 
minutes afterward a deer carne running by as if it had 
been frightened by something behind it. I waited long 
enough to see that no wolves were after it, and then 
hurried to the camp and gave Ben a shake by the 
shoulders. 

u Get up, Ben," said I, in a low voice, for I did n't 
want to wake up the other boys. 

"Helio!" said he, raising himself up with one 
hand and rubbing his eyes with the other. — "Helio, 
Cap, what's the matter? Dinner ready?" 

"No," I replied, "you cormorant, it has n't been 
half an hour since you ate dinner enough for six men. 
Get up and help me bring in the horses." 

"Injins about?" says Ben. 

"I have n't seen any yet," I said, "but they are 
about here, certain." 

"Why, Cap," said he, "if I did not know you so 
well, I should think you were a little too cautious; 
but if you say fetch in the horses, here goes." 

And between us we brought them all in, and tied 



7 6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



them securely in the chaparral, without waking up 
any of the other boys. 

After we had got them all well f astened, Ben laid 
down again to finish his nap, but had scarcely coíled 
Eimself in his blanket when he sprang up as suddenly 
as if a stinging lizard had popped him. 

"TTrackey !" says he, "Cap, they are coming! I hear 
their horses' feet!" 

I listened attentively, and sure enough, I could hear 
the sound of horses' feet clattering on the rocky 
ground, and the next minute we saw twenty-three Co- 
manche warriors coming as fast as their horses could 
bríng them right for our camp. 



CHAPTER XV 



A Warm Reception — "Fire and Fall Back" — Hot Work — A 
Natural Coward — Four at a Shot — Lassoing Dead Indians. 

IN an instant we had roused up the boys, and were 
ready for them. They evidently expected to take 
us by surprise, for they never checked their horses 
until they had charged up within a few feet of the 
chaparral in which we were posted, and began to pour 
in their "dogwood switches" as thick as hail. But we 
returned the compliment so effectually with our rifles 
and six-shooters, that they soon fell back, taking off 
with them four of their warriors that had been 
"emptied" from their saddles. They wounded one of 
our men named Fry, but not badly, and killed a pack- 
mule. 

The Indians went off out of sight behind a hill, and 
most of the boys supposed that they had left for good, 
but I told them they were mistaken, and that we 
should have a lively time of it yet; that the Indians 
had only gone off to dismount, and would come back 
again soon and give us another "turn." And so it 
turned out, for we had scarcely got our guns and pis- 
tols loaded again when they rose up all around the lit- 
tle thicket in which we were, yelling and screeching as 
if they thought we were a set of "green-horns" that 
could be frightened by a noise. 

But I saw plainly they were in earnest this time, and 
told Ben Wade to take three of the boys and keep 
them off from the far side of the thicket, while I kept 
them at bay with the rest from the side next the coach. 



78 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



We both had our hands full, I can tell you. I rather 
think we must have killed some noted warrior in the 
first charge they made upon us, and that they were 
bent on having revenge, for I never saw the red ras- 
cáis come up to the "scratch" so boldly before. Three 
or four times they charged us with great spirit, and 
once they got right among us, so that it was a hand- 
to-hand fight; but the boys never flinched, and poured 
the six-shooter bullets into them so fast that they 
could n't stand it long, and retreated once more out of 
sight behind the hills. 

During the time the Indians were charging on us 
so fiercely, I saw one of my men skulking behind a 
bunch of prickly-pear. I won't mention his ñame, for 
the poor fellow could n't help being afraid any more 
than he could help feeling cold when a hard "norther" 
was blowing. 

"Come out of that," said I, "and stand up and fight 
like a man." 

"Cap," said he, "I would if I could, but I can't 
stand it." 

I saw by the way his lips quivered and his hands 
shook that he told the truth, so I said, for I really felt 
sorry for him : 

"Well, stay there, then, if you must, and FU say 
nothing about it." 

But some of the other boys noticed him too, and I 
actually believe, if I had not interfered, they would 
have shot him after the fight was over, and I might 
just as well have let them, for the poor fellow had no 
peace of his life after that. 

I have seen two or three men in the course of my 
life who were naturally "scary-like," and they could 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



79 



n't help it, any more than they could help having 
bandy legs or a snub nose. They were made that way 
from the jump, and they are more to be pitied than 
blamed. You might just as well blame a man because 
he is n't as smart as Henry Clay, as because he is n't 
as brave as Julius Caesar. However, it is mighty ag- 
gravating to have them act in that way when the ser- 
vice of every one is needed, as it was on that occasion. 
And, after all, they are generally more unlucky than 
those who are braver and expose themselves. With 
the exception of Fry, this man was the only one in the 
crowd that was wounded. An arrow went through 
his arm and pinned him hard and fast to the prickly- 
pear behind which he was skulking. 

After the Indians had retreated the second time, 
the boys concluded, of course, that they had given up 
all idea of attacking us again, but I told them that I 
did n't think so ; that I thought they would wait for 
us to make a start, when they intended pouncing upon 
us at some place where we could get no shelter. 

"But," said I, "boys, we can soon satisfy ourselves 
about this," and I ordered every man to take his gun 
and lie fíat down under the coach, and keep perfectly 
quiet. The boys had begun to get a little tired of this 
position (except Ben, who was fast asleep) when sud- 
denly we saw an Indian cautiously poke his head out 
of the chaparral, about seventy yards from where we 
were lying. He looked for a long time toward us, and 
seeing no one moving he ventured out, and stood 
straight up, to have a better view. 

"Don't fire at him boys," I said; "there will be 
some more of them directly, and we may get two or 
three." 



8o 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



In a little while, another Indian stepped out by the 
side of the first, and then another and another, until 
five of them were standing side by side, all looking 
intently toward the coach, and wondering, I suppose, 
what had become of us. 

"Now score 'em, boys," says I, and we let them 
have it. 

Four fell dead at the crack of our guns, and the 
fifth scrambled back into the chaparral as fast as if 
he had had a heavy bet on doing it inside of a second. 

I told the boys to load up again as quick as possi- 
ble, for that more of them would be sure to come out 
to take off the dead ones ; but I made a miscalculation 
this time to a certainty. Not a thing could be seen or 
heard for fifteen or twenty minutes, when all at once 
we saw an arm rise up out of the bushes on the edge 
of the chaparral, and make a sort of motion, and the 
next instant one of the dead Indians was "snaked" 
into the thicket ; and I wish I may be kicked to death 
by grasshoppers, if they did n't rope every one of 
them and drag 'em off in that way, and we could never 
see a thing except that Indian's arm, motioning back- 
ward and forward as he threw the lasso. 

"Boys," says I, "that gets me ! I have been in a good 
many 'scrimmages' with the Indians, but I never saw 
them 'snake off' their dead in that way before. How- 
ever," I continued, "it shows they 've had enough of 
the íight, and I think now we may venture to make a 
start, without any fear of being attacked by them 
again." But there was new danger ahead, as you 
will soon see. 



CHAPTER XVI 



More Comanches on the War-Track — Keeping a Stiff Upper 
Lip — On a False Trail — Ben Wade Wants His Dinner — 
"Mr. John" Outwitted. 



for on reaching the top of the little "rise" where I 
had first taken my stand, I saw and counted forty 
warriors coming down a canon not more than four 
hundred yards oíf. I was satisfied it was not the same 
party we had been fighting, but a reinforcement com- 
ing to their assistance. They rodé slowly along di- 
rectly toward me, and when within about one hundred 
yards of me, I rose up from where I was sitting 
and showed myself to them. They halted instantly, 
and one of them,, who I supposed was the chief, rodé 
thirty or forty yards in advance of the rest, and in a 
loud voice asked me in Mexican (which most of the 
Comanches speak) what we were doing there? 

There is nothing like keeping a "stiff upper lip' 7 
and showing a bold front, when you have to do with 
Indians; so I told him we had been fighting Coman- 
ches, and that we had flogged them genteelly, too ! 

"Yes," said he, " you are a set of sneaking cayotes, 
and are afraid to come out of the brush. You are 
afraid to travel the road. You are all squaws and you 
don't daré to poke your noses out of the chaparral." 

"If you will wait till we eat our dinner," I an- 
swered, "FU show you whether we are afraid to travel 




HILE the boys were harnessing up, I took 
my rifle and stepped out a short distance 
to reconnoitre, and well for us that I did, 



82 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



the road. We shall camp at the California Springs 
tonight, in spite of the whole Comanche nation!" 

And with this I turned around and walked slowly 
back to the coach, as if I did n't think they were worth 
bothering about any further. 

I was satisfied if I could only make them believe we 
had no fear of them, and that we would take the road 
again that evening for the California Springs, they 
would hurry on there for the purpose of waylaying us 
at that place; and so it turned out, for they imme- 
diately put off for the Springs, eight miles distant, 
leaving only three warriors behind to watch our 
motions. 

When I got back to the coach I told the boys what 
I had said to the Indians, and that I had no doubt 
they would hurry off to California Springs, wEth 
the intention of waylaying us there, and that when I 
thought they had had time enough to make the dis- 
tance, we would put out and take the back track to 
Fort Clarke. 

"They are too strong for us now, boys," said I, 
u for they have had a reinforcement of forty warriors, 
and they will fight like mad, to revenge the death of 
those we have killed." 

"Cap," said Ben Wade, "I heard you make one 
sensible remark to that Indian you were talking with." 

"What was that?" I asked. 

"Why," says Ben, "you told him as soon as we got 
some dinner we would go to the California Springs, 
in spite of the whole Comanche nation." 

"Yes," I said, "I told him that because I wanted 
him to think we were delaying here of our own accord, 
and not because we were afraid of him an3 his war- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



83 



riors, and I believe they have gone off under that 
impression." 

"It was a pretty smart dodge in you, Cap, to put 
'em on the wrong scent in that way, FU admit, but 
you see, as we may not be able to get to California 
Springs after all, and we can get dinner, we had bet- 
ter make sure of doing what is in our power; besides, 
Cap," he continued, hauling out a chunk of venison 
and some hard-tack from his wallet, "they have prob- 
ably left a spy to watch us, and FU 'make pretend' to 
eat a bite, so he won't have any reason to think we 
are 'throwing olí' on them." 

"There '11 be no danger of that Ben," said I, "if 
he r s where he can get a good look at you. There's no 
'throw off' in you when eating and sleeping is to be 
done." 

"Ñor fighting either," he said. "If I hadn't shot 
that Indian on the last charge they made on us, just 
as he was drawing his bow on you, not six feet off, 
you would have had a quill sticking out of your back 
now as long as a porcupine's." 

"That's a fact, Ben," I replied, "and it is n't the 
first time you have done me a good turn in that way, 
and I ain't the man to f orget it ; and when we get back 
to Fort Clarke, I will stop over a day, just to give you 
a fair chance to lay in a good supply of provender." 

Ben was "mollified," and as soon as he had finished 
the venison and hard-tack he tumbled over on his 
blanket, and was fast asleep in two minutes. 

After waiting about half an hour longer, we took 
the road back to Fort Clarke, instead of going on to 
the Springs, and traveled as rapidly as we could urge 
on the animáis. Just as we started, we saw two of the 



8 4 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



warriors that had been left behind to watch our move- 
ments put off at full speed toward the Springs, no 
doubt with the intention of letting the Indians know 
we were taking the back track. The other — for they 
had left three behind — : followed on after us at a safe 
distance from our rifles, for seven or eight miles, when 
we lost sight of him. 

We had so much the start of the Indians, and the 
road was so firm and good, and we rattled along at 
such a rate, they had no chance to overtake, even if 
they pursued us, which I suppose they did. At any rate, 
we saw nothing more of them, and the next morning 
reached Fort Clarke safely, where our wounded men 
were taken care of. We had outwitted "Mr. John" 
completely. 

The commandant at Fort Clarke furnished us with 
an escort of twelve men and a sergeant, and we made 
the trip back to San Antonio without any further 
trouble from the Indians at that time. 



CHAPTER XVII 



A Night Visit Fróm the Indians — Afoot, and Ten Miles to 
Travel — On the Trail — A Curious Specimen. 

" í ^vID I ever tell you, asked Big-Foot, about a 



curious sort of character I f ell in with at the 



) \_JS "Zumwalt Settlement," on the La Vaca, a 
year or so after I carne out to Texas? I have met with 
many a good honest hater in my time, but this fellow 
hated Indians with such a u vim" that he hadn't room 
left even for an appetite for his food. But he had a 
good reason for it and if they had served me as they 
did him, I am afraid I should have taken to scalping 
Indians myself for a livelihood,instead of being satis- 
fied with "upping" one now and then in a fair fight. 

A party of eight of us had been out on an explor- 
ing expedition to the Nueces River, which was then 
almostunknowntotheAmericans,and the night we got 
back to the La Vaca we encamped on its western bank, 
and all went to sleep without the usual precaution of 
putting out a guard, thinking we were near enough to 
the settlements to be safe from the attacks of Indians. 
I told the boys I thought we were running a great risk 
in not having any guard out, as I had already found 
that when you least expected to meet up with Indians, 
there they were sure to be ; but the boys were all tired 
with their long day's ride, and said they did n't think 
there was any danger, and if there was they were 
willing to take the chances. So, after we had got some 
supper and staked our horses, we wrapped our blan- 




86 



THE AD VENTORES OF 



kets around us, and, as I have said before, were all 
soon fast asleep. 

I was the íirst one to rouse up, about daylight the 
next morning, and, looking in the direction we had 
staked our horses,Idiscovered that theywere allgone. 
I got up quietly, without waking any of the boys, and 
went out to reconnoitre the u sign." I had gone but a 
little ways on the prairie when I picked up an arrow, 
and a few yards farther on, I carne across one of our 
horses lying dead on the grass, with a dozen "dog- 
wood switches" sticking in various parts of his body. 
This satisfied me at once that "Mr. John" had paid 
us a sociable visit during the night, and, with the ex- 
ception of the one they had killed (he was an unruly 
beast) , had carried oif all our stock when they left. 

I went back to camp and stirred up the boys, and 
gave them the pleasing information that we were ten 
miles from "wood and water" and "flat afoot." But 
there was no use in crying over the matter, so we held 
a "council of war" as to what was the best to be done 
under the circumstances ; that is, flat afoot, with all 
our guns, saddles, bridles, and other equipment on 
Tiand, and ten miles to the nearest settlement. At 
length, it was decided that each man should shoulder 
his own "plunder,"or leave it behind,as he preferred, 
and that we should take a "bee-line" to the "Zum- 
walt Settlement" above the river, borrow horses if we 
could, follow the Indians, and endeavor to get back 
from them those they had stolen from us. So we took 
a hasty snack, and, each man shouldering his pack, we 
put out on a "dog-trot" for the settlement. 

It was a pretty fatiguing tramp, hampered as we 
were with our guns and rigging, but we made it in 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



87 



good time. Fortunately for us, a man had just come 
into the settlement, from the Rio Grande, with a 
large "caballado," (drove of horses), and when we 
made known our situation to him, he told us to go into 
the corral and select any of the horses we wanted. 
They were only about half broke, and it took us fully 
an hour to catch, bridle, and saddle them, and fifteen 
minutes more to get on their backs. I was more lucky 
than most of the boys, for I only got two kicks and a 
bite before I mounted mine. 

When all was ready, we put spurs to our steeds and 
galloped back to our encampment of the night pre- 
vious, where our horses had been stolen, and took the 
Indian trail, which was plainly visible in the rank 
grass that grew at that day along the bottoms of the 
river. Several men belonging to the settlement had 
volunteered to accompany us, so that our number 
(rank, but not file, for we were all colonels, majors 
or captains, except one chap, who was a judge) 
amounted to thirteen men, well armed and mounted. 

As long as the Indians kept to the valley we had no 
trouble in following the trail, and pushed on as rap- 
idly as we could. When we had travelled perhaps 
eight or ten miles, I had to halt and dismount for the 
purpose of fixing my girth, which by some means had 
become unfastened. While I was engaged at this, I 
heard the tramp of a horse's hoofs behind me, and 
looking back the way we had come, I saw a man rid- 
ing up rapidly on our trail. When he got up to where 
I was he reined in his horse, evidently intending to 
wait for me, and I had a chance of observing as 
curious a looking "specimen" as I ever saw before in 
any country. He was a tall,spare-built chap,dressed in 



88 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



buckskin hunting-shirt and leggings, with a coonskin 
cap on ; a long, old-f ashioned flint-and-steel Kentucky 
rifle on his shoulder, and a tomahawk and scalping- 
knife stuck in his belt. His hair was matted together, 
and hung around his neck in great uncombed "swabs," 
and his eyes peere'd out from among it as bright as a 
couple of mesquite coals. I have seen all sorts of eyes, 
of panthers, wolves, catamounts, leopards, and Mex- 
ican lions, but I never saw eyes that glittered, and 
flashed, and danced about like those in that man's 
head. He was mounted on a raw-boned, vicious- 
looking horse, with an exceedingly heavy mane and 
tail ; but notwithstanding his looks, any one could see, 
with half an eye, that he had a great deal of "let out" 
in him on a pinch. 

As soon as I had patched up my girth, I mounted 
my horse again, and rodé along sociably with this 
curious specimen for a mile or so, without a word 
passing between us; but I got tired of this, and, al- 
though I felt a little "skittish" of this strange-looking 
animal, I at length made a "pass at him," and in- 
quired if he was a stranger in these parts. 

"Not exactly," said he. "I have been about here 
'off and on' for the last three years, and I know every 
trail and 'water-hole' from this to the Rio Grande, 
especially those that are used much by the Indians 
going and coming. 

"And ain't you afraid," I asked, "to travel about 
so much in this country alone?" 

He grinned a sort of sickly smile, and his íingers 
clutched the handle of his tomahawk, and his eyes 
danced a perfect jig in his head. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



9 I 



"No," he answered; "the Indians are more afraid 
of me than I am of them. If they knew I was way- 
laying a particular trail, they would go forty miles 
out of their way to give me a wide berth; but the 
trouble is, they never know where to find me. And, 
besides," he continued, "the best horse this side of 
the Brazos can't come alongside of 'Pepper-Pod' when 
I want him to work in the lead." 

As he said this, he touched up Pepper-Pod smartly 
with his spurs, who gave a vicious plunge, and started 
off like a "shot out of a shovel." But he soon reined 
him up, and we rodé on together again in silence for 
some time. Finally, I said to him : 

"Man of family, I suppose?" 

Gracious ! if a ten-pound howitzer had been fired 
off just then at my ear, I could n't have been more 
astonished than I was at this chap's actions. He 
turned palé, and his lips quivered, and he fumbled 
with the handle of his butcher-knife, and his eyes 
looked like two lightning-bugs in a dark night. He 
did n't answer me for a while, but at length he said : 

"No, I have no family now. Ten years ago, I had 
a wife and three little boys, but the Indians murdered 
them all in cold blood. I have got a few of them for 
it, though," he went on, "and if I am spared, FU get 
a few more before I die;" and as he said this he 
clicked the triggers of his rifle, and pushed the 
butcher-knife up and down in its scabbard, his eyes 
danced in his head worse than ever, and he gave 
Pepper-Pod another dig in the ribs, who reared and 
plunged in a way that would have emptied any one 
out of the saddle, except a number-one rider. 



92 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



After a while, he and Pepper-Pod both quieted 
down a little, and he said to me : 

u You must n't think strange of me. I always get 
in these 'flurries' when I think of the way the Indians 
murdered my poor wife and my little boys. But I wíll 
tell you my story. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



Story of the Indian-Hater — The Move From Kentucky — New 
Home in Texas — Wife and Children Murdered by the 
Indians — Terrible Revenge — A Dangerous Com- 
panion — The Iridian Camp. 



K ]í ^EN years ago," said the strange-looking man, 
"I was as happy a man as any in the world; 
-!L but now I am miserable except when I am 
waylaying or shooting or scalping an Indian. It's the 
only comfort I have now. 

"I had a small farm in Kentucky, not far from the 
mouth of the Beech Fork, and though we had no 
money, we lived happily and comfortably, and had 
nothing to fear when we laid down at night. But, in 
an unlucky hour for us,a stranger stopped at myhouse 
one day on his way to Texas, and told me about the 
rich lands, the abundance of game, and the many for- 
tunes that had been made in this new country. From 
that time I grew restless and discontented,andIdeter- 
mined, as soon as possible, that I would seek my for- 
tune in that 'promised land.' 

"The next fall I had a chance to sell my little farm 
for a good price, and we moved off to Texas, and, 
after wandering around for some time, finally settled 
on the banks of a beautiful little stream that runs into 
the Guadalupe River. My wife had left Kentucky 
very unwillingly, but the lovely spot we had chosen 
for our Home, the rich lands and beautiful country 
around, and the mildness of the climate, at length 
reconciled her to the move we had made. 



94 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"One lovely morning in May, when the sun was 
shining brightly, and the birds were singing in every 
tree, I took my rifle and went out for a stroll in the 
woods. When I left the house, my wife was at work 
in our little garden, singing as gayly as one of the 
birds, and my three little boys were laughing, and 
shouting, and trundling their hoops around the yard. 
That was the last time I ever saw any of them alive. 
I had gone perhaps a mile, entirely unsuspicious of 
all danger, when I heard a dozen guns go off in the 
direction of my house. The idea flashed across my 
mind in a moment that the Indians were murdering 
my family, and I flew toward the house with the speed 
of a frightened deer. From the direction in which I 
approached it, it was hid from view by a thick grove 
of elm-trees that grew in front of the house. I hurried 
through this, and rushed into the open door of the 
house, and the íirst thing I saw was the dead body of 
my poor wife, lying palé and bloody upon the floor, 
and the lifeless form of my youngest boy clasped 
tightly in her arms. She had evidently tried to defend 
him to the last. The two older boys lay dead near by, 
scalped, and covered with blood from their wounds. 

"The Indians, who had left the house for some 
purpose, at that instant returned, and, before they 
knew I was there, I shot one through the heart with 
my rifle, and, drawing my butcher-knife, rushed upon 
the balance like a tiger. There were at least a dozen 
of the savages, but if there had been a thousand of 
them it would have made no difference to me, for I 
was desperate and reckless of my life, and thought 
only of avenging the cruel and cowardly murder of 
my poor wife and children. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



95 



"I have but a faint recollection of what happened 
after this. I remember hearing yells of fright and 
astonishment the Indians gave as I rushed upon 
them, and that I cut to pieces several of them with 
my butcher-knife before they could escape through 
the door — and then all was a blank, and I knew noth- 
ing more. I suppose some of those outside fired upon 
me, and gave me the wounds that rendered me sense- 
less, but I gave them such a scare it was evident they 
never entered the house again, as otherwise, you 
know, they would have taken my scalp, and carried 
of? the dead Indians. 

"Some time during the day, one of my neighbors 
happened to pass by the house, and noticing the un- 
usual silence that prevailed, and seeing no one moving 
about, he suspected something was wrong, and carne 
in, and the dreadful sight I have described to you met 
his eyes. 

"He told me afterward he found me lying on the 
floor, across the body of an Indian, still grasping his 
throat with one hand, and with the other the handle 
of my knife, which was buried to the hilt in his breast. 
Near by lay the bodies of three other Indians, gashed 
and hacked with the terrible wounds I had given 
them with my butcher-knife. My kind neighbor, ob- 
serving some signs of Ufe left in me, took me to his 
house, dressed my wounds, and did all that he could 
for me. 

"For many days I lay at the point of death, and 
they thought I would never get well ; but gradually my 
wounds healed up and my strength returned ; although 
for a long time afterward I was n't exactly right 
here (tapping his forehead) and even now I am more 



9 6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



like a crazy man than anything else, when I have to 
go a long time without 'lifting' the scalp from the 
head of an Iridian; for then I always see, especially 
when I lay down at night, the bloody corpses of my 
wife and poor little boys." 

"I hope, my friend," I repÜed, for I didn't like 
the way his eyes danced in his head, and the careless 
manner he had of coeking his gun and slinging it 
around — "I hope you have had your regular rations 
lately, and that you don't feel disposed to take a white 
man's scalp when an Indian's can't be had handily." 

The fellow actually chuckled when I said this, the 
first time I had heard anything like a laugh from him, 

"Oh, no," he said; "I have been tolerably well sup- 
plied of late, and could get along pretty comfortably 
without a scalp for a week or so yet. I have forty-six 
of them hanging up now in my camp on the Chico- 
lite, but I shan't be satisfied unless I can get a cool 
hundred of them bef ore I die ; and I '11 have 'em, too, 
just as sure 's my ñame is Jeff Turner." 

Again his eyes glared out of his bushy locks, and 
his íingers again began to fumble about his knife- 
handle, in a way, that, if I had had a drop of Indian 
blood in my veins, would have made me feel exceed- 
ingly uneasy. At last, to change the subject, I asked 
him which way he was traveling, though, of course, I 
knew very well he was going along with us. 

"Any way," he replied, "that these. Indians go. I 'd 
just as soon go in one direction as another. I always 
travel on the freshest Indian trail I come across. You 
and your company may get tired and quit this trail 
without overtaking the Indians, but I shall stick to it 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



97 



until I get a scalp or two to take back with me to my 
camp on the Chicolite." 

By this time we had come up with our companions, 
and all rodé on in silence. At length we carne to a 
hard, rocky piece of ground, where the Indians had 
scattered, and we lost the trail altogether, for not the 
least sign was visible to our eyes. At that time, you 
see, none of us had had much experience in the way of 
trailing and fighting Indians, except Jeff Turner, the 
"Indian-hater." 

We soon discovered that he knew more about fol- 
lowing a trail than all of us put together, and from 
this time on, we let him take the lead, and followed 
him everywhere he went. Sometimes, where the 
ground was very hard and rocky, and the Indians had 
scattered, he would hesitate for a little while as to 
the course to pursue, but in a moment or so he was 
all right again, and off at such a rate that we were 
compelled to travel at a full trot to keep up with him. 

About half an hour before sundown, he carne to a 
halt, and when we had all gathered around him, he 
told us to keep a sharp lookout, and make no noise, as 
the Indians were cióse by ; and, in fact,we had scarcely 
travelled three hundred yards farther when we saw 
their blanket tents on the edge of some post-oak tim- 
ber, about a quarter or a mile to our right. We put 
spurs to our horses, and in a few moments we were 
among them. 



CHAPTER XIX 



Attacking the Indians — Narrow Escape — The Indian-Hater at 
Work — Forgot to Untie His Horse — A Dying Struggle — 
Worse Scared Than Hurt — Dinner Ready Cooked — 
Return to the Settlements and Disappearance 
of the Indian-Hater. 



V jí ^HE Indians did n't see us until we were with- 
in fifty yards of their encampment, but still 
J-L they had time to seize their guns, and bows 
and arrows, and give us a volley as we charged up; 
but luckily no damage was done except slightly wound- 
ing one of our horses. We dismounted at once and 
commenced pouring a deadly fire into them from our 
rifles. 

Just as I sprang from the saddle to the ground, a 
big Indian stepped from behind a post-oak tree and 
drew an arrow upon me that looked to me as long as 
a barber's pole. I jumped behind another tree as spry 
as a city clerk in a dry-goods store when a parcel of 
women come around shopping, and not much time 
had I to spare at that, for the arrow grazed my head 
so closely that it took off a strip of bark from it about 
the width of one of my fingers. I levelled my rifle and 
drew a bead upon him as he started to run, but his 
arrow had rather unsettled my nerves, and I missed 
him fairly. 

The fight was kept up pretty hotly on both sides 
for fifteen or twenty minutes, when the Indians 
a soured on it," and retreated into a thick chaparral, 
leaving seven of their warriors dead upon the ground. 

I noticed my friend Jeff several times during the 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



99 



fight, and each time he was engaged in "lifting the 
hair" from the head of an Indian that either he or 
some one else had shot down. They say that "prac- 
tice makes perfect," and it was astonishing to see how 
quickly Jeff would take off an Indian scalp and load 
his rifle in readiness for another. One slash with his 
butcher-knife and a sudden jerk, and the bloody scalp 
was soon dangling from his belt. At the same time, 
he never seemed to be in a hurry, but was as cool and 
delibérate about everything he did as a carpenter 
when he is working by the day and not by the job. 

When the Indians began to retreat, one of them 
jumped on one of our horses, (which they had tied 
hard and fast to post-oaks near their camp), forget- 
ting in his hurry, to unfasten the rope, and round and 
round the tree he went, until he wound himself up to 
the body, when just at that instant Jeff plugged him 
with a half-ounce bullet, and had his scalp off before 
he had done kicking. 

After the Indians had retreated to the chaparral, 
a little incident occurred that shows the pluck of these 
red rascáis when they have been "brought to bay." 
We were standing all huddled up together, loading 
our rifles, for we did not know but that the Indians had 
retreated on purpose to throw us off our guard, when 
all at once we were startled by a keen yell and the fir- 
ing of a gun, and at the same instant a tall chap by 

the ñame of B , who had come with us from the 

settlements, dropped his rifle, and, clapping his hands 
to his face, cried out: 

"Boys, I am a dead man!" 

I looked around to see from whence the shot had 
come, and discovered an Indian lying on the grass, 



IOO 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



about thirty yards orí, with his gun in his hand, slowly 
sinking back upon the earth again, from which he had 
partially raised himself by a dying effort to take a last 
pop at the enemies of his race. I had seen this Iridian 
f all during the fight, and supposed, of course, that he 
was dead — as he was, in fact, an instant after he gave 
the yell and íired his gun ; for I went up immediately 
to where he lay, and found that he was dead as a door 
nail, with his gun still tightly clasped in his hands ; and 

yet at the time he fired at B he had no less than 

seven rifle-balls through various parts of his body, for 
the wounds were plainly to be seen, as he had nothing 
on to speak of, except his powder-horn and shot- 
pouch. 

Our "Indian-hater," Jeff, carne up to him about the 
same time I did, and lifted the hair from his head be- 
fore you could say "Jack Robinson," and strung it on 
his belt to keep company with three other scalps that 
were already dangling from it. The scalps seemed to 
ease the mind of Jeff considerably, as he told me they 
would, and he got quite sociable with the boys after 
the fight, and once actually laughed outright, when 
one of them told a funny story about shooting at a 
stump three times for an Indian before he discovered 
his mistake ; but either the unusual sound of his own 
laugh frightened him, or else he had used up all his 
stock on hand, for I never saw him crack a smile 
afterward. 

As it turned out, B was worse scared than 

hurt, for the Indian's bullet had only grazed his head, 
but, striking the black-jack tree near which he was 
standing, it had thrown the rough bark violently into 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



IOI 



his eyes, the pain from which led him to suppose u he 
was a dead man." 

The Indians had killed a fat buck, and when we 
pounced upon them they had the choice pieces spitted 
before the fire, and after the fight we found them 
"done to a turn." We had n't eaten a bite all day, 
and seized upon the venison as the lawful spoils of 
war, and made a hearty supper upon it, together with 
some hard-tack which we had brought along with us 
in our haversacks. While I was eating supper, I 
could n't help feeling a little sorry for the poor crea- 
tures who had cooked it only an hour before, and who 
were now lying around us cold and stiff on the damp 
grass of the prairie, so soon to be devoured by vul- 
tures and cayotes. However, this thought did n't take 
away my appetite, or, if it did, a side of roasted ribs 
and about five pounds of solid meat disappeared along 
with it. 

As soon as we had finished supper, we changed our 
saddles from the horses we had ridden to those the 
Indians had stolen from us (which had been resting 
for some time) , and mounting, we took the trail back 
towards the settlement, where we arrived about sun- 
up the next morning, making seventy-five miles we 
had travelled in part of a day and night, without ever 
getting off our horses except for a few moments, when 
we fought the Indians. 

Jelf, the Indian-hater, left us here for his camp on 
the Chicolite, and I never saw him again. I was told 
when I was at the settlement several years after this, 
that he staid around there for a good while, occa- 
sionally coming into the settlement for his supplies 



102 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



of ammunition, etc., and always bringing with him 
four or five scalps. At length, he went olí and never 
returned, and it is supposed that the Indians finally 
caught him napping. At any rate, that was the last 
that was ever seen or heard of Jeff Turner, the "In- 
dian-hater." 



CHAPTER XX 



Wallace Makes a Treaty with the Lipan Indians — The Indians 
Break It — Preparation to Punish Them — First 
Appearance of a Live Author. 

AFEW months after I had settled on the Me- 
dina River, I concluded that it would be good 
_ policy to enter into a regular treaty with the 
Lipans, who, at that time, occupied all the adjacent 
country. So I made my preparations for a grand din- 
ner, to which, upon a certain day, I invited all the 
chiefs, and after I had feasted them to their heart's 
contení, on "bear-meat and honey" and "sweetened 
coffee," of which they are exceedingly fond, I 
broached the subject to them, stating briefly that I 
was a lone man, and they were a powerful tribe, and 
that I wanted to make a treaty with them, by which 
they should guarantee never to interfere with me or 
my stock so long as I conducted myself peaceably 
toward them ! 

Whereupon, the head chief, Coyo-lopto-hajo, or 
literally, u Smells-bad-when-he-walks," (I suppose he 
had some Congo blood in him), rose up from the 
buffalo robe on which he was sitting, and made a 
speech in reply, in which he praised me in the highest 
terms, saying I was a great warrior and hunter, and 
a good f riend to the Lipans ; that I did not have two 
faces, like a great many of the white people, and that, 
therefore, they had confidence in what I told them; 
that they knew no Lipan had ever come to my ranch 
and gone away hungry, but that I had always filled 



104 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



their stomachs (patting his own) with fat bear-meat 
and honey, as I had done that day. 

He then turned to the other chiefs, and asked them 
if they were willing to enter into the treaty I pro- 
posed, and they all grunted out their readiness to do 
so. So the treaty was formally made and ratified, and 
though the expenses attending it were much less than 
the cost of a majority of the "treaties" made by 
"Unele Sam," it was probably as faithfully kept — at 
least for a long time. 

When the chiefs got up to leave, they all shook me 
by the hand, and told me that henceforth I was just 
the same as a Lipan in their estimation, and that I 
must steal plenty of horses and cattle, (the only mode 
as they supposed, of getting them,) and that they 
would never steal them from me; and that no other 
Indians would daré do so on their "hunting-grounds." 
But before the chiefs left, in order to "clincn" the 
treaty effectually, I produced a jug of whisky, and 
told them they had to take a parting drink with me. 
From the length of time that " Smells-bad-as-he- 
walks" held the jug to his lips, I think he must have 
swallowed at least a pint — indeed, I am certain of it, 
for before they were out of sight, I saw him charge 
his mustang over the other chiefs, and go off whoop- 
ing and yelling like a maniac. 

Well, for several years, the "treaty" was faithfully 
kept on both sides, and I never lost a horse or a hoof 
of any sort, although my neighbors (for after a while 
several families settled withn six or eight miles of me) 
could not keep an animal on their ranches. But, in 
the course of time, the Lipans concluded to emigrate 
from that part of the country to the head-waters of 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



IOS 



the Guadalupe River, and as I had then collected 
quite a stock of horses and mules around me, the 
temptation to steal from me was too great to be re- 
sisted; and a night or so after the tribe had left they 
sent back a party of warriors, who made a clean sweep 
of everything I had in the shape of a horse on my 
ranch. At first I did not suspect the Lipans, suppos- 
ing that the stealing had been done by othcr Indians ; 
but on following their trail a short distance the next 
morning, I picked up an arrow, which I knew, from 
its peculiar make, had belonged to a Lipan; and also 
a tail of a fox fastened to a carved wooden handle, 
such as the chiefs of that tribe generally carry with 
them on all occasions of public ceremony. I was in- 
dignant,of course,at being served such a scurvy trick 
by my oíd friends and allies, particularly as I had al- 
ways kept the "treaty" made with them in good faith 
myself, and I determined to make them pay dearly for 
it if I could. So the next morning I went into San 
Antonio, where there was a ranging company sta- 
tioned, in which I had many oíd acquaintances, and I 
told them how the Lipans had served me, and pro- 
posed that we should make up a party and follow the 
Indians, and give them a lesson that would teach them 
that they could not break their "solemn treaties" with 
impunity. 

The captain of the company, who was an oíd f riend 
of mine, readily consented that any of his men should 
go with me who desired to do so, and about thirty of 
the "right sort" volunteered at once, by whom I was 
unanimously elected u commander-in-chief" for the 
expedition. The captain also furnished us with four 
fine pack-mules, and rations enough to last us a month. 



io6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



Just as we were leaving San Antonio for my 
"ranch," a queer-looking customer rodé up to me, 
and introduced himself by saying: 

"Captain Wallace, I believe." 

"At your service, sir," I replied. 

"Well," said he, "captain, I have understood you 
were about starting on a trip into the 'wilderness/ and 
if you have no objection, I should like to go along with 
you. I am an author, sir, and am now engaged in 
writing a novel entitled the 'Wayworn Wanderer of 
the Western Wilds,' and never having, as yet, been 
outside of the 'settlements,' I am anxious to accom- 
pany you on your trip, in order to acquire some practi- 
cal information of the subjects to be treated of in it." 

"Well," I replied, "Mr. Author, I have not the 
least objection to your going with us, if you wish it; 
but I will tell you beforehand, that you will have a 
very rough road to travel, and no taverns on the way 
to put up in at riight." 

"Oh!" said he, "I understand all about that, and if 
it is agreeable to you I shall certainly go along." 

Seeing that it was evidently his intention to go 
along with us at once, I said to him : 

"Of course, Mr. Author, I have not the least ob- 
jection in the world to your company; but you surely 
do not think of starting on such a trip in the dress you 
have on." 

He was dressed in a stove-pipe hat, light cloth coat 
and pantaloons, and patent-leather gaiter shoes. Just 
think of a fellow, will you, in that costume, among the 
chaparrals on the head-waters of the Guadalupe 
River, one of the roughest little scopes of country in 
all the borders of Texas. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



IO9 



u Why," said he, looking down at himself, in an 
admiring sort of way, "what is the matter with my 
dress?" 

"Oh, nothing now," I replied, u but by the time you 
get through the first chaparral on the way, you will 
not have a rag on you big enough to patch a bullet 
with; and besides," I continued, "you ought, by all 
means, to have your 'implements' with you," (mean- 
ing, of course, a rifle and revolver) . 

u Oh, I have got them," he said, hauling out of his 
pocket a portable ink-stand and a memorandum- 
book. "I always carry them with me." 

I could not, to save my life, help laughing right 
out in the fellow's face. It was too ridiculous to think 
of a man starting out on the "war-path" without a 
gun or a pistol, or even a butcher-knife — with noth- 
ing, in fact, except an "ink-bottle" and a memoran- 
dum-book. 

"My friend," I said, "if you are determined to go 
on this trip, take my advice, and go back to San An- 
tonio, and get you a gun and pistol, and a buckskin suit 
of clothes, and then join us at my ranch on the Me- 
dina, where we shall remain until to-morrow even- 
ing." 

"Captain," he replied, "I reckon you are right, and 
I will go back into town and *fix up' as you advise, and 
then meet you at your 'ranch' at the time appointed, 
provided I can find my way out there." 

"Oh, there will be no trouble about that," I said, 
and then gave him the necessary directions to enable 
him to find the road. 

u Well, good-by, captain," he said; "you may look 
for me to a certainty, for I am resolved to go along 



I IO 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



with you, and pick up all the information I can on the 
subjects I shall treat of in my great novel of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer of the Western Wilds.' " 

"All right, Mr. Author," I replied; "and I have no 
doubt you will be able to pick up a good deal before 
you get back;" and with that, he turned his pony and 
cantered off toward town. I was rather anxious that 
the fellow should go with us, for it struck me there 
was considerable fun to be had out of him, if he was 
rightly "handled," and I hoped what I had told him 
of the dangers and hardships of the trip would not 
prevent him from meeting us as he had promised. 



CHAPTER XXI 



The Author Again — The Boys Make Fun of His Umbrella — 
His Pistol "Goes Ofí" and Creates an Excitement — Mr. 
Cooper's Indian Characters — Some Sage Reflections on 
Character — The Author Wants a Bed, and Gets Tige's 
Bufíalo Robe — "Something Like a Pillow" — Troublesome 
Bedfellows — The Start After the Indians. 



URE enough, late in the evening our author 



rodé up to my ranch dressed in a suit of buck- 



skin, with a little double-barrel gun on his 
shoulder,and an umbrella strapped behind his saddle ! 
He carne up to me smiling, and shook me by the hand. 

"Well, captain," said he, "you see I am 4 up to time,' 
and 'armed and equipped as the law directs.' " 

The men gathered around him as he dismounted 
from his pony, to see, as I overheard one of them re- 
mark, if they could make out what sort of a "var- 
mint" he was. 

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Author," I said, "and 
in a few days I think I can promise you a little insight 
into the ways of the wilderness." 

"Helio, stranger," said one of the men, pointing to 
the umbrella, "what's that you ha ve got strapped to 
your saddle there?" 

"That," said our author, "is what is commonly 
termed an 'umbrella,' and is used as a protection 
against the sun and rain." 

"Run here, everybody!" cried the fellow. Here's 
a man going on a scout with an umbrella." 

"Yes," says another, "and when he gits it 'histed,' 
he won't care a snap if it rains Injins." 




112 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"Hurray, boys!" said another, "if we can only 
come up with them thieving Lipans, they might as 
well 'knock under' at once, for we have got a man and 
his 'umbreir along with us. It 's worth a dozen of 
Unele Sam's mountain howitzers." 

"I'd rather have it," said another, "than that 
bird-gun he's got on his shoulder,for if he was to open 
it suddenly on an Injin, he would run certain, think- 
ing it was some new-fangled, 'weepin' of the white 
people; at least, I know his horse would." 

"My friend," said I, seeing nothing like a revolver 
buckled around him, "why didn't you bring a pistol 
with you?" 

"Pistol," he answered, rummaging about in his 
pockets; "I have got one somewhere, I know." 

I wish I may be kicked to death by grasshoppers if 
he didn't fish up out of his breeches pocket a little 
pepper-box of a thing about the size and length of my 
big toe. 

"Here it is," said he, íingering at the trigger as he 
pulled it out, when "pop" it went, right in the midst 
of the crowd. This frightened or excited our author 
so much that he kept on pulling the trigger, and bang ! 
bang ! it went, until all six of the barréis were emptied, 
when he dropped it like a hot potato, and made tracks 
for the house. While it was firing off the men dodged 
behind everything that was handy, some of them hal- 
looing, "Hobble the thing," "Rope it," "Pitch it into 
the creek," etc. 

Fortunately, there was no one hit, which was a won- 
der, for things of this sort, I have noticed, are very 
apt to hurt somebody when they go off accidentally, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



113 



but you cannot strike the side of a house with them at 
ten paces when you shoot at it on purpose. 

The men were tickled to death with our author, and 
some of them proposed having him out of the house 
again for their further amusement; but I objected to 
this, and told them that he belonged to me, for I had 
"found him first," and that it would not do to use him 
too extravagantly, for f ear he wouldn't last us the trip 
through. They thought this was reasonable enough, 
and let him alone the balance of the night. 

After supper, as the weather was pleasant and dry, 
the men spread their blankets under the trees around, 
and soon a general snoring gave evidence that they 
had all emigrated to the u land of Nod." 

"Captain," said our author to me, when we were 
left alone in the ranch, "you have read Mr. Cooper's 
novéis, of course : what do you think of his delinea- 
tion of the Indian character?" 

"Yes," I replied, "Mr. Author, I have read some 
of his novéis, and from my recollection of them, I 
rather think his Indian characters are a little too 
highly colored. His Indians stalk about in a lofty sort 
of way, wrapped up in their robes, with an eagle's 
feather on their heads, and talk in a manner that the 
Indians of this country couldn't comprehend at all. 
Besides, his Indians, if I remember well, never laugh, 
ñor steal horses, while I have always found Indians 
to be uncommonly fond of a joke, especially of a cer- 
tain kind, and the most arrant and expert thieves that 
ever went unhung. I believe they could almost steal 
a horse out of a 'corral' if there had not been one in 
there for a week." 

"You astonish me greatly," said the author; "and 



114 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



if what you tell me about the Indians be true, I have 
been cruelly deceived by Mr. Cooper, and shall have 
an immense deal of work to do in writing over the 
characters of those that figure in my novel of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer of the Western Wilds,' for they 
are drawn after his models. I shall hate to 'rub out' 
my principal hero, particularly 'Hopa-Tuki-lika-hajo,' 
or the 'Rushing River,' for he is my beau ideal of an 
aborigine — haughty and reserved and always dressed 
in fringed hunting-shirt, beaded moccasins and wam- 
pum-belts, and never says two words without begin- 
ning, 'Brother, listen.' Oh, it will be too bad," he con- 
tinued, "if I shall have to blot out my 'sheff-duwer'* 
(whatever he meant by that), Hopa-Tuki-lika-hajo, 
after all the trouble I have had to fix him up to my 
notion ; but FU do it if I find his character overdrawn, 
for the 'Wayworn Wanderer' is not intended for a 
sensation novel, and its scenes and characters must 
be true to nature." 

Our author and I sat up, I suppose, till 10 o'clock, 
talking on various matters, and though he was as 
green as a "cut-seed watermelon" on everything per- 
taining to a frontier life, I found him to be well in- 
formed upon many subjects of which I was totally 
ignorant. I am not in the habit of "putting a man up" 
as an ignoramus merely because he is verdant in some 
things which my profession or peculiar mode of life 
has given me thorough knowledge of , and yet I know 
there are many men who judge of one entirely by this 
standard. If a man is ignorant of woodcraft, a poor 
shot with a rifle, and cannot manage a wild mustang, 
* "Chef-d'oeuvre," French for "master-piece." 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



115 



backwoodsmen are very apt to think he is u nó great 
shakes" any way. 

After a while, our author said to me : "Captain, 
I'm not much used to riding on horseback, especially 
on such horses as you have here in Texas, that 'pitch,' 
as you cali it, half the time, like a boat beating against 
a head sea, and I feel a good deal worried in conse* 
quence ; so if you will show me my bed, I believe FU 
retire for the night." 

"A bed," I replied, "Mr. Author, is a piece of fur- 
niture that has never darkened the doors of this ranch 
yet; but there is a buffalo robe in the córner yonder, 
where you can lie down, if you can get 'Tige' off of it; 
but I see he has 'nine points of the law' in his favor." 

u Captain," said our author, after he had with some 
difficulty ousted Tige, "I hate to trouble you, but if 
there is anything in the shape of a pillow about the 
ranch, I should like to get it, as I cannot sleep well 
without something of the sort under my head." 

I stepped out into the yard, and picked up a wooden 
maul, which I brought in and stuífed under his buffalo 
robe, telling him there was something in the shape of 
a pillow, though not quite so soft as it might be, and 
that I hoped he would rest well, as he had a long ride 
before him the next day. 

In a little while he was sound asleep, and dreaming, 
I suppose, of his novel, for I heard him muttering 
something about the "Wayworn Wanderer of the 
Western Wilds." 

In the morning, as soon as he awoke, he said : 

"Captain, this is a substantial pillow of yours here ; 
they must last a long time." 



n6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"Yes," said I, "they do, when you are careful to 
keep them out of the weather, and don't split more 
than two hundred rails a day with them. And how did 
you rest last night?" I asked. 

"Well, only tolerable," says he; 'Tve got a 'crick' 
in my neck this morning" (and no wonder, for the 
maul was made of ebony wood, and was as hard as a 
flint rock), "and besides, there was some sort of an 
insect here that bit me cruelly during the night." 

"Did they seem to hop, or did they appear to 
crawl?" I asked. 

"I think," he replied, "that they did more crawling 
than hopping, and more biting than either." 

"Where did you get that buckskin suit you had 
on?" I inquired. 

"From a Mexican," said he, "who sold it to me as 
a great favor." 

"Then," said I, "Tige isn't to blame ! you are lousy, 
sure!" 

"What!" he cried, jumping up as if a stinging 
lizard had popped him in the back. "You don't say 
so ! What am I to do, for Tve nothing else here to 
wear but that miserable buckskin suit?" 

"Oh," I said, "they are all off of the clothes by this 
time, and on you, and if you will step down to the 
creek and take a good wash, you will be all right 
again." 

Away he went, as if he had been on fire, or had 
swallowed a dose of No. 6, and pitched headforemost 
into the water, where he washed, combed, and 
scrubbed faithfully for half an hour. All the while I 
knew very well that Tige was at the bottom of his 
troubles, but of course I didn't tell him so. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



117 



After we had got some breakfast, we saddled up 
our horses and mounted, and took the trail of the In- 
dians. Our author rodé alongside of me, on a white- 
eyed "paint pony," with his bird-gun slung across his 
shoulders, and his "umbrell" tied behind him. 

He didn't present a very formidable appearance, 
as you may well suppose, and the men were highly 
amused at the figure he cut; but they held in as much 
as possible on my account. 

Notwithstanding all this, we found out afterward 
that the little author was as "true blue" as ever flut- 
tered, though of course he couldn't do much damage 
with his bird-gun and pepper-box. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



The Sudden Storm — Sad Fate of the "Author's" Umbrella — 
What He Thought of Mr. Cooper — The Author Goes 
a-Hunting, and What He Found — He Pronounces 
Mr. Cooper a Humbug. 



WAS satisfied, the Indians having had so much 



the start of us, that it was useless to "hurry up" 



JLL with the expectation of overhauling them before 
they reached the country they intended to occupy per- 
manently, and I determined to travel along leisurely, 
and keep our horses in as good plight as possible for 
the long "scout" that I knew was ahead of us; so we 
traveled only about twenty-five miles that day, and 
encamped just before sundown in a little valley where 
there was a bold running creek and plenty of good 
grass for our horses. When we had got some supper, 
we staked out our animáis, placed the usual guard 
over them, and laid down under the trees upon our 
blankets, the author and I occupying one bunk to- 
gether. 

In a little while after we had "gone to roost," the 
author said to me : 

"Captain, what is that roaring I hear like a charge 
of cavalry ??" 

I rose up and saw a dense black cloud coming rap- 
idly toward us from the north, and I knew we were 
about to have one of those sudden squalls common at 
that season of the year in the hilly country, and invari- 
ably accompanied by a heavy fall of rain. 




BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



119 



"We are in for a ducking, my friend," I said, 
"unless you can manage to protect us with your um- 
brella." 

u Oh, I can do that," said he, jumping up; "and 
you wM find that an umbrella is not such a bad article 
to have on a scout, after all." 

So he unstrapped it f rom his saddle and hoisted it 
over us ; but scarcely had he done so when the squall 
struck us with the forcé of a tornado, and the first 
gust of wind turned the umbrella wrong side out, 
wrenched it from his hand, and carried it out of sight 
in a moment. 

u Captain," said he, "what's to be done now? The 
umbrella has been whisked off like an oíd witch upon 
a broomstick, and we shall be drenched to the skin." 

"I know it," I replied, "but there's no help for it, 
and all we can do is to 'lay low' and take it quietly." 

"Why, captain," he answered, "it will be the death 
of us ! I never caught a wetting but once in my life, and 
then as soon as I got home, I didn't feel safe until I 
was tucked into bed with the 'sheets aired,' and had 
swallowed a couple of hot toddies. Oh, dear! the 
water is running down my back in a stream now, and 1 
I shall certainly perish from such horrible exposure." 

"Not a bit of it, Mr. Author," I replied, "you'll 
wake up as fresh as a lark in the morning. There's a 
stream running down my back, too, but it isn't quite as 
big as the Colorado, and Fm not the least afraid of its 
drowning me. All you've got to do is to keep quiet, 
and you will very soon be comfortable enough." 

"Well," said he, after a while, "if this is what you 
cali 'comfortable,' your ideas and mine dilfer very 
widely on the subject. The water is half-way up my 



120 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



sides. I begin to think," he continued, shivering and 
scrouging closer up to me, to borrow a little of my 
warmth, of which in fact I hadn't much to spare — 
"I begin to think there was a good deal of humbug 
about Cooper, after all, for in all his descriptions of 
the woods and frontier life, he never says a word 
about a fellow's having to sleep in a puddle on the 
ground, with a damp blanket smelling of horses over 
his shoulders, and a stream of cold water trickling 
down his back. When people 'bivouac' in his novéis, 
the nights are always serene and clear, the stars twin- 
kle overhead, the turf is green and soft (there's a 
bowlder as big as my first exactly under my hip), and 
everything is pleasant and agreeable. I'm losing my 
confidence in Mr. Cooper rapidly." 

In about an hour the rain ceased, the puddle disap- 
peared from around us, and notwithstanding his "un- 
comfortable" situation, our author slept like a top the 
balance of the night. 

The first thing we saw in the morning, when we 
woke up, was the "umbrell"on the top of a mesquite 
bush where the wind had lodged it, about fifty paces 
from where we had slept. The men discovered it 
about the same time, and as they wanted to fire off 
their guns and pistols, which had got damp in the rain, 
they pretended to think it was a turkey on its roost, 
and every one took a crack at it. As soon as the íiring 
ceased, our author went out and lifted it from its 
roost with a long pole, and though sadly damaged by 
the bullets and wind, he carefully strapped it on his 
saddle again. 

That day we traveled only about twenty miles on 
the trail, to a small creek where I thought it advisable 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



121 



to camp, as I knew it was doubtful about finding any 
water for a long distance beyond it. The sun was two 
or three hours high when we got to the creek, and 
several of the men went out hunting, and so did our 
author, though what he expected to kill with his little 
bird-gun is more than I can say. He had been gone 
but a short while when we heard both barréis of his 
gun go off quickly one after another, and soon after- 
ward we heard him halloo a dozen times in rapid 
succession. 

Supposing something extraordinary had happened 
to him, I seized my rifle and hurried off in the direc- 
tion of the sound. When I had gone about half a mile, 
I carne to the top of a ridge, and looking over in the 
valley beyond, I saw our author dodging from one 
side to the other of a small mesquite-tree, while a big 
buck trotted around it, every now and then making 
furious lunges at him with his horns. Our author, 
however, displayed more activity and skill in dodging 
than I had given him credit for, and thinking he was 
in no immediate danger, I walked along very leisurely 
toward him. 

When I had got within about fifty yards of him, he 
sang out to me, in the most pleading tones, "to make 
haste and shoot the buck." 

"Hurry, captain," said he, "and shoot the outrage- 
ous thing, for I can't keep up this dodging much 
longer." 

But the f act is, I was in no hurry to shoot, for it was 
rather a funny sight to see how spry the little author 
would "squirrel" round the tree whenever the buck 
made a pass at him. At last he lost all patience, and 
sang out: 



122 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"Captain, why in the world don't you shoot? 
Shoot, and that pretty quick, if you don't want to see 
me murdered in 'cold blood' by this horrid beast." 

"That's hardly possible, Mr. Author," I said, u as 
you certainly have taken exercise enough to warm it 
up a little." 

But the buck kept him so busy he paid no attention 
to anything I said, but continued to sing out : 

"Shoot, captain! shoot the horrid beast." 

The little author was amazingly expert and nimble 
at dodging, but, fearing he might accidentally get hurt 
if the game was kept up too long, I raised my gun, 
deliberately took sight at the buck, and fired. At the 
crack of the rifle, he made one last and desperate 
plunge at the author, grazing him so closely that he 
carried away a piece of the tail of his hunting-shirt on 
his horns, and then fell as "dead as a door nail" a few 
feet from the root of the tree. 

Our author threw himself on the ground, com- 
pletely "beat out," and panting and blowing like a 
stag-hound after a long chase. I walked up to where 
he lay, and as soon as he could catch his breath a' 
little, he said: 

"Captain, will you please tell me exactly how long 
it took you to walk from the top of that hill to this 
place, and how long you took sight at that buck after 
you got here? I am anxious to know, for I wish to 
make a note in my book of the 'slowest time on 
record'." 

I saw in a minute that our author was as mad as a 
hornet (and no wonder, either), so I said: 

"Until I got up cióse to you, I actually thought you 
were after the buck, and not the buck after you; that 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



123 



it was the buck dodging round the tree, and you were 
trying to get hold of him to cut his throat." [Big- 
Foot u stretched his blanket" considerably here.] 

"Well,"he replied,"it may have looked so to 'a man 
on a hill,' but it was just the contrary, I can tell you., 
If you had put off shooting one moment later, the 
world would never have seen the conclusión of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer,' and you would have been re- 
sponsible to posterity for the loss they would have 
suffered in consequence. But it's all owing to Mr. 
Cooper," he continued, "for I never would have ven- 
tured to attack a beast with such a head of horns if it 
had not been for him. In all his novéis he describes 
the deer as 'a timid, innocent animal, that is startled 
at its own shadow in the sun.' I only wish he had been 
here in my place ! Why, sir, I never saw so furious a 
beast in all my born days, and I am pretty well con- 
vinced now that Mr. Cooper was a humbug; and as 
certain as I live I will expose all his fallacies in the 
'Wayworn Wanderer.' He has imposed on the world 
quite long enough." 

"That's all right, Mr. Author," said I; "but how 
do you intend to describe the deer ?" 

"Just as he is," said he, "a peaceable-looking ani- 
mal enough before you attack him, but, the moment 
you fire upon him, a great fierce creature, with a head 
of horns like a brush-heap, eyes as green as grass, and 
his hair all turned the wrong way, and so active that 
nothing but a monkey or a squirrel can dodge fast 
enough round a tree to keep out of his way." 

"That's a description, sir, that for truth and cor- 
rectness would do to go in 'Goldsmith's Animated 
Nature'." 



I2 4 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



While our author was running on in this style, I 
proceeded to skin the buck, and to cut off some choice 
pieces to carry back with us to camp. When I got 
through, I pretended just then to discover the tail of 
our author's hunting-shirt hanging to the buck's 
horns. 

"Helio!" said I, "what's this?" 

"Oh, that," he said, is nothing but the tail of my 
hunting-shirt, which that 'timid, innocent animal, that 
is startled at its own shadow in the sun,' carried away 
on its horns when he made the last furious lunge at 
me. Til thank you to hand it over to me, if you please, 
and Til splice it on when we get to camp. Mr. 
Cooper's a humbug, sir!" 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Our Author Has an Appetite — Scarcity of Water — The Author 
Takes Notes, and the Men Get Riled— The Mud-Puddle. 

HEN we got back to camp with our 
author's venison, we found that some of 
the boys had cut down a "bee-tree," from 
which they had taken five or six gallons of excellent 
honey, and with some of the steaks from the buck that 
had exercised our author so much, we made a bounti- 
ful supper. I never in my life saw a man eat heartier 
than the author. 

"Captain," said he, as he sat sipping his coffee, 
after having stowed away about five pounds of veni- 
son, not to mention "hard-tack" and other things, 
"this wandering about in Western wilds seems to give 
one a wonderful appetite. I feel like a frog that had 
swallowed shot, and I should make a poor out at 
dodging a buck now, for I should have him on both 
sides of me at once, inside and outside." 

u Oh, my friend," said I, "you have not come fairly 
to your appetite yet. When you have been out a couple 
of weeks or so, and have exercised yourself at dodg- 
ing bucks a few times more, you will be very nearly 
able to eat a 'mulé and a hamper of greens' at a single 
meal." 

"I shall not take any more exercise in that way," he 
replied, "particularly if Tve got to depend upon you 
to help me out of the scrape. I shall certainly not inter- 
fere again with Mr. Cooper's 'timid, innocent ani- 
máis, that are frightened at their own shadows in the 
sunV 

After a while, our author took out his memoran- 




126 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



dum book and pencil, as was his custom every night, 
and noted down all that had happened during tke day, 
which he said was the "material" for the revised 
edition of the "Wayworn Wanderer." 

The night passed off quietly, and the next morning 
we were again on our way by the time the sun had 
fairly risen. 

We had entered upon a country that at that time 
was entirely destitute of water, and we traveled all 
that day and until an hour after dark without finding 
any. As the weather was warm, men and animáis 
suffered severely for want of it. The next morning 
we were up betimes and again on the road, but mile 
after mile was passed over, and still not one drop of 
water could we find in the bottoms of the deepest 
gullies and cañons that lay on our way. 

Toward sundown, both men and horses were suf- 
fering severely from thirst, and I began to feel some 
uneasiness at the prospect of having to pass another 
night without water. Our author stood the "racket" 
like a man; in fact, he seemed rather to enjoy the 
situation than otherwise. 

"Captain," said he, riding up to me, "I wouldn't 
have missed this for a great deal. I can work up from 
the material I have collected in the last twenty-four 
hours a thrilling chapter on the suffering produced by 
intense thirst, that will add much to the interest of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer.' But, I have one thing to ask 
of you, which will enable me to complete the informa- 
tion I want, and make this chapter (unlike Mr. 
Cooper's) true to nature. Will you please order the 
men to halt for a moment?" 

Not having the slightest idea what he wanted, I did 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



127 



as he requested, and called out "Haití" The men 
drew up very unwillingly, for they were parching with 
thirst, and were anxious to get on as fast as possible, 
in the hope of finding water before night. 

As soon as they had come to a halt, our author rodé 
out in front of them, like an enrolling officer, and de- 
liberately drawing forth his memorándum book and 
pencil, he said to them : 

"My friends, I hope you will not think I have taken 
too great a liberty in halting you in this way, and I am 
sure you will not, when I explain to you my reasons 
for so doing." 

"Well, say it out quick," said some one in the crowd, 
"for this is no time for long talks, and we are in a 
hurry to get to water, if there is any left in this miser- 
able country." 

"Well, my friends," said our author, "I will not de- 
tain you more than ten minutes. All I want of you is 
to keep still long enough to enable me to get a correct 
expression of the human countenance when distorted 
by the pangs of intense thirst, which will aid me ma- 
terially in working up one of the most thrilling chap- 
ters of my forthcoming novel, the 'Wayworn Wan- 
derer'." 

And I wish I may be kicked to death by grasshop- 
pers if he didn't ride along the line, every now and 
then stopping before a fellow and putting down in his 
book such notes as these : "Eyes inflamed and blood- 
shot," "Lips purple and contracted," "Countenance 
palé and anxious," etc. 

The men, for a little while, didn't seem to under- 
stand what he was up to, but when they did, I verily 
believe they would have murdered him on the spot if 



128 THE ADVENTÜRES OF 

it had not been for me. As it was, they contented 
themselves with giving him a hearty cursing, and, 
wheeling their horses, rodé on rapidly, to make up 
for lost time. Said one of them to another : 

u If that fellow hadn't been a sort of pet of the cap- 
tain's, if I wouldn't have shot him oíf that wall-eyed 
'paint' of his'n ! Only think of the fellow's impudence, 
will you, to stop the whole crowd when we haven't had 
a drop of water for two days, just to see how a man 
looked when he was dying from thirst!" 

Said another: "If I had only suspicioned what he 
was up to at the start, he would have heard a gun fire 
certain; but when he carne out in that way, with his 
book in his hand, I made sure he was going to tell us 
where there was a gold mine, or at least that he had a 
Vay-bill' to some water-hole." 

Our author seemed a little disconcerted at first by 
the unceremonious manner in which the men had 
treated him, but he soon recovered his usual self- 
complacency, and took it all in good part. 

"My friend," said I, as I rodé up to him, "the men 
didn't seem very well pleased at your halting them in 
the road to make a note of their looks." 

"No," he replied, "and I can't blame them much 
for being a little impatient, under the circumstances ; 
but if I had only taken the precaution to read them a 
chapter or two from the 'Wayworn Wanderer' before 
I told them what I wanted, I have no doubt they 
would -willingly have put themselves to some incon- 
venience to aid me in perfecting such a work." 

"Oh, no doubt of that," I answered. 

"The fact is," continued the author, "I'm begin- 
ning to lose some of my interest in the book myself, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



129 



for this wretched thirst torments me so I can think of 
nothing but water, in some shape or other — river 
water, lake water, spring water, or even a duck-puddle 
would have more interest for me now than I ever took 
in one of Cooper's novéis before I found him out. 
Captain," he went on, "don't you see any signs of 
water hereabouts at all?" 

"No," I answered, "but I hope we won't have to 
pass another night without it, for if we should, our 
animáis will be seriously injured, to say nothing of 
what we will have to suffer ourselves." 

Luckily, just before night, we struck a sort of 
lagoon, or the dry bed of a branch, which we followed 
down for some distance, and at length carne to a little 
pool of muddy water. With great difficulty, we kept 
our horses from plunging into it until we had filled 
our canteens, when we turned them loóse, and in a 
f ew moments they drank it dry. They did not get half 
as much as they wanted, but still there was enough to 
partially slake their thirst. 

What we had taken up in our canteens was so thick 
with mud that we could scarcely pour it out, and yet 
our author declared it was the best water he ever 
drank, and that the flavor of the mud was rather an 
addition to it than otherwise; of which fact he said 
he intended to make a "note," as it controverted the 
popular idea that the water of "crystal streams" and 
"purling brooks" was the best. 

We encamped near this lagoon for the night, and at 
daylight the next morning we were on the way again, 
for we did not wait for breakfast, as there was not 
water enough left in our canteens to make a cup of 
coffee. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Plenty of Water — A Halt for Refreshment — Our Author 
Among the Rocks — He Meets with an Adventure — Treed by 
Mexican Hogs — He Grows Desperate — Is Released at Last 
— Adventure with a Rattlesnake — More Scared Than Hurt. 



had traveled but a few miles, when our 
íl led us into a narrow pass in the hills, 
id after going up this two or three miles 
farther, we carne to one of the most beautiful little 
valleys I had ever seen, through the midst of which 
there ran a bold stream of water, bordered by fine 
large cypress and pecan trees. The grass in this valley 
was luxuriant, and the Indians we were following 
had stopped in it some time to recruit their horses, 
after passing over the desert country we had just come 
through, as was evident from the quantity of bones 
and other oífal around their camps. As our horses had 
had but little grass for the last two days, I thought it 
would be good policy to follow their example, and 
rest them here until the next day. So we picked out a 
suitable place for a camp-ground, in a grove of pecans, 
and staked the animáis out to graze. 

Our author was a great geologist, I think he called 
it, as well as a book-maker, and would frequently talk 
to me about the "stratas" and the "primary" and "ter- 
tiary" formations, though I told him I did not know 
anything of such matters; and whenever we stopped 
to camp, he would frequently "boge" about for hours 
among the caverns and gulches,hunting what he called 
"specimens," and come back with his pockets filled 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



with rocks, which he would sort out and label, and 
then store them away carefully in his saddle-bags. On 
one occasion I heard one of my men say to another, 
"Bill, what in the thunder do you suppose the 'author' 
has got in his saddle-wallets, that malees them so 
heavy?" 

"Don't know," said Bill, unless they are nuggets." 

"Nuggets?" said the other; "they are rocks just 
like these you see laying all around here. I know it is 
so, for I looked into them this morning!" 

"Why," answered Bill, "what do you reckon the 
fool is packing them about for?" 

"No idea," said the other, "unless he has no faith 
in that 'bird-gun' and 'pepper-box' he totes, and in- 
tends to fight with them when we catch up with these 
Ingens. The truth is, Bill," he continued, "the fellow 
is as crazy as a bed-bug, sure, and if he only had any 
weepins about him that could hurt a body, I should 
keep my eye skinned on him, certain." 

In fact, by this time the belief was prevalent among 
the men that our author was really "unsettled" in his 
mind, which supposition proved, in the end, of service 
to him, for of course they could not hold a crazy man 
responsible for anything he did. 

As soon after our halt as he had unsaddled and 
staked his horse, he went out, as usual, hunting "speci- 
mens" in the ravines and gullies among the hills. I 
was just settling myself upon my blanket, to take a 
comfortable snooze, when we heard him "halloo" 
repeatedly about half a mile from camp. 

"There," said one of the men, "there is that crazy 
chap got into a scrape with another buck, I suppose, 
and somebody will have to go and help him out of it." 



132 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"Yes," saíd another, "and the first thing he knows 
he will have his 'hair lifted,' 'boging' about alone, 
with nothing but that 'pop-gun' of his to fight with. 
He had better trust to his 'umbrellV 

I was satisfied, however, it could not be a buck that 
was after him this time, for I had noticed, when he 
left camp, that he did not take his "pop-gun" along 
with him, and as he continued to "sing out" louder 
and louder, I at length picked up my rifle, and started 
off to see what sort of a scrape he had got into. At 
the bottom of a deep ravine, I found him sitting on 
the top of a chaparral bush, with his memorándum 
book in his hand, and about a dozen Mexican hogs 
around him. He was barely out of their reach, and 
every now and then, one of them would make a pass 
at his legs, whenever he stretched them down to re- 
lieve them a little from the constrained position in 
which he was compelled to keep them. 

As soon as I appreciated the situation of affairs, I 
scrambled up into a mesquite-tree, about thirty paces 
from where our author was roosting, for I knew very 
well these "havilinas," when excited and roused, were 
the most dangerous of all our wild animáis. When in 
considerable numbers, they frequently attack a man 
with great ferocity, and are almost certain to cut him 
to pieces with their terrible tusks, unless he can effect 
a timely retreat, for they are much more active and 
swift on foot than the common wild hog. 

When I found myself safe from their attacks, I 
called out to our author to know what he was doing 
on that bush. 

"Hallo! Captain!" he called out, "is that you?" 
( for the hogs had kept him so busy he had not noticed 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



133 



me till then) . "I am as glad to see you as I was when 
the buck was after me. I hope, though, you will not 
be quite so delibérate as you were on that occasion." 

"Yes," I answered, "but what are you doing on the 
top of that bush?" 

"Doing !" said he. "Can't you see that I am trying 
to keep my legs out of the reach of these outrageous 
wild pigs, and it is as much as I can do at that. There ! 
did you see that scroundrel make a pass at me?" 

"Why don't you drive them away?" I asked. 

"Drive them away!" replied our author. "I have 
thrown all my specimens at them, and everything else 
I had about me except my memorándum book, and it 
only makes them worse. They are not afraid of any- 
thing." 

Said I, "Mr. Author," fixing myself comfortably 
on a limb, "this reminds me of a scrape I once got into 
with these 'havilinas,' that would do for a chapter in 
the 'Wayworn Wanderer and as we are comfortably 
fixed out here, all by ourselves, I could not have a 
better chance of telling it to you." 

"Comfortable !" he exclaimed. "You have strange 
ideas of it, if you think a man can be comfortable, 
sitting on the top of your abominable Texas chapar- 
ral, with his knees drawn up to his chin, a thorn in each 
leg as long as my finger, and a dozen wild hogs mak- 
ing lunges at them whenever he stretches them down 
for a moment's ease. For heaven's sake, shoot them," 
he implored, "and let me out of this nest of thorns." 

"I can't," I replied. "I have only the bullet that is 
in my gun, and if I shoot one of them, it will make the 
rest ten times worse." 



134 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"You don't tell me so, captain," he answered; 
"then what in the world shall we do?" 

"Why," said I, "the only thing we can do now, is to 
be patient, and wait until the mcon rises to-night, and 
I think then the 'havilinas' will leave us." 

"Oh! don't talk to me about the moon's rising. It 
won't be up till 12 o'clock, at least, and I can't stand 
this fifteen minutes longer, no how. Crackey! that 
fellow gave me a grazer ! He has taken off the heel 
of my boot on his tusks !" 

"You see, Mr. Author," I continued, pretending 
not to hear what he said, "it was about six years ago, 
that Bill Hankins and I were out ~bear-hunting' on the 
head-waters of the León, when — " 

"Plague take that fellow, he brought blood that 
time, certain!" said our author. "Their teeth are as 
sharp as razors." 

"As I was saying," I went on, "it was about six 
years ago that Bill Hankins and I were out bear-hunt- 
ing on the head-waters of the León, when we fell in 
with a large drove of these 'havilinas'." 

"They are gnawing my bush down," said our 
author, in a pitiable tone; "they will have it down in 
less than ten minutes." 

"As I was saying," I continued, "it was about six 
years ago that Bill Hankins and I were out bear-hunt- 
ing on the head-waters of the León, when we fell in 
with a large drove of havilinas, and before we were 
aware of our danger — " 

"Shuh! you devils," said our author, flinging his 
last missile, his memorándum book, at the hogs, as 
they made a general rush on his bush. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



137 



"Mr. Author," I said, in an offended tone, "you are 
not paying the slightest attention to what I am telling 
you. You might learn something even from the In- 
dians in this respect, for, according to Mr. Cooper, 
they never interrupt a man when he is talking. 

"As I was saying," I continued, "it was about six 
years ago that Bill Hankins and I were out bear-hunt- 
ing on the head-waters of the León — " 

"Oh ! bother Mr. Cooper and Bill Hankins and the 
head-waters of the León," said our author, losing his 
temper at my persistence in relating the anecdote. 
"Cooper's a fool. Oh, my! there's a thorn clean 
through my back, into the hollow!" 

"But, my friend," said I, changing my tactics, "you 
ought to bear your troubles with patience, for you 
should remember what a thrilling chapter you will be 
able to make out of this adventure for the 'Wayworn 
WandererV 

"Oh, yes," said he ; "but who will there be to write 
it, when I am chawed up by these infuriated pigs like 
a handful of acorns? Oh, dear! they'll have me 
directly. I can feel the bush giving way now. Cap- 
tain," said he, "you will find the manuscript of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer' in my saddle-bags. Take it, 
and publish it for the benefit of the world, and tell 
them of the melancholy fate of the poor author. But 
tell them, for mercy's sake, that I was devoured by a 
lion, or a panther, or a catamount, or some other de- 
cent sort of a beast, and not by a gang of squealing 
pigs. It won't sound romantic, you know." 

"FU do it, Mr. Author," said I; "but I hope you 
will live long enough yet to tell them all about it your- 



138 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



self. You have a íirst-rate chance now to study the 
habits and appearance of these 'havilinas,' and can 
write a chapter on them that will be very interesting, 
and true to nature. How will you describe them?" 
I asked. 

"They look to me," he answered, "like a couple of 
butcher-knives about as long as my arm, stuck into a 
handle covered with hair and bristles !" 

"And can you tell me," I said, "what particular 
tribe of animáis they belong to?" 

"Captain," he answered, "I don't feel inclined to 
discuss the subject just now, particularly as the subject 
is so eager to discuss me; and besides, to tell you the 
truth, I think you have selected a most unsuitable 
time for propounding your questions in natural his- 
tory. Oh, my! there goes the leg of my pants, and a 
strip of the hide with it!" 

"Mr. Author," I said, pretending not to hear his 
remarks, "I recollect once reading a chapter in one of 
Mr. Cooper's novéis, in which he gives a very inter- 
esting account of the immense droves of wild pigeons 
that were migrating from one part of the country to 
another, and — " 

"Oh, bother Cooper, I say!" said our author, be- 
coming perfectly frantic, as a thorn touched him up in 
the rear, and a pig made a dash at his legs in front. 
"Cooper is an unmitigated humbug, and I begin to 
think you are not much better. Oh, I can stand this no 
longer," said he, "and 1*11 make a íinish of it at once ;" 
and I verily believe he would have jumped down 
right among the hogs in another moment; but just 
then I saw several of my men coming toward us from 
camp, and said to him : 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



139 



u Hold on a minute, Mr. Author; there come some 
men to help us, and we'll soon rout the beasts now." 

Seeing that we were both treed by some sort of 
"varmints," the men hurried up, shot several of the 
hogs, and the balance, finding we mustered too strong 
for them, quickly retreated into the chaparral. 

Our author carne down from his roost, and threw 
himself at full length upon the ground, for the pur- 
pose, as he said, of getting the tucks out of his legs. 
After he had rested himself for awhile, and picked 
out all the thorns that had been left sticking in his 
flesh, he rose up considerably refreshed in mind and 
body, and we walked back toward camp. 

"I am afraid, Mr. Author, 1 ' said I, as we sauntered 
along, "you will begin to think you are paying pretty 
dearly for the information you are collecting in the 
wilderness." 

"Not at all, captain," he answered, "for I know 
that no great undertaking was ever accomplished 
without labor and many difficulties to be overeóme. A 
novel such as I intend the 'Wayworn Wanderer' to be, 
cannot be written except by one thoroughly posted on 
the subjeets of which it treats. I will confess, how- 
ever, that once or twice since I carne out (particularly 
when I was in that disagreeable position on top of the 
chaparral-bush) I have wished I had never under- 
taken the job; but that, you see, was only a momen- 
tary weakness, and I shall not give way to it hereafter. 
'Richard's himself again,' " he said, flapping his arms 
across his breast like a play-actor. 

Now, there was one thing of which our author was 
exceedingly afraid, and that was a snake. He was in 



140 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



constant fear of them, day and night, and, like all 
people who have a great dread of snakes, he could 
find more of them in the course of the day than any 
six men in the company. He was forever finding 
snakes, at all times, and in localities, where nobody 
else could have found one if he had hunted closely for 
a week. Now, it so happened that just as he made 
this last heroic speech, and in the very act of flapping 
his arms against his breast, he put his foot upon a 
large rattlesnake that was coiled up in a bunch of 
grass. The snake rattled, and struck his teeth into his 
buckskin leggings. 

"Oh! oh!" he sang out, dropping his feathers like 
a strutting gobbler when he hears a gun go off, at the 
same time making a most extraordinary leap to one 
side; "I am gone now to a certainty. This reptile has 
bitten me to the bone." 

When the snake struck him, the fangs penetrated 
partially into the tough, spongy buckskin of his leg- 
gings, and as our author sprang off he dragged the 
snake along with him. The moment he discovered 
that the snake was fastened to him, he kicked out 
frantically with his legs, and exclaimed, in the most 
piteous accents: 

"Take him off, captain, for heaven's sake; take him 
off before he swallows me alive." 

The snake was torn loóse after the first vigorous 
kick; in the excitement of the moment, however, our 
author never noticed it, but continued his kicking until 
at last he fell to the ground from puré exhaustion, 
where he lay rolling and squirming apparently in the 
greatest agony. I ran up to him, and taking hold of 
him, said : 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



141 



"Mr. Author, are you bit?" 

"Bit !" said he ; "you can't put your finger on a place 
that isn't bit. Fm poisoned from head to foot by the 
reptile ! The jig is up with me now, certain. Oh! 
what a fool I was to venture out into this howling 
wilderness, where you can't go f orty yards from camp 
without running a great risk of being devoured by 
some wild beast, ñor put your foot down without 
treading on a snake." 

I really f eared at first that the snake had bitten him, 
and I hastily rolled up his leggings and looked for the 
wound, but couldn't find the slightest sign of one, ex- 
cept some scratches made by the thorns of the chapar- 
ral bush. 

"Mr. Author," said I, "you are all safe; the snake 
hasn't even grazed the skin." 

"Are you sure he hasn't bit me?" he asked. 

"Yes," I replied, 'Til warrant your life for a gin- 
gercake. Why, Mr. Author," I continued, "you are 
in luck to-day. You have scarcely finished your ad- 
venture with the havilinas when here you are collect- 
ing material enough for another thrilling chapter of 
the 'Wayworn Wanderer'." 

"Yes," said he, "that's true enough, and I can work 
up a very interesting chapter on 'snakes' out of this, 
there is no doubt; but, let me tell you, I don't want to 
collect 'material' quite so rapidly. I would rather 
these incidents would occur a little wider apart, and 
give me time enough to catch my breath. 'Enough is 
as good as a feast.' I am willing to make a martyr of 
myself now and then for the sake of immortality, but 
I can't aíford to do it every fifteen minutes in the day." 



142 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



We got back to camp without any further incident 
happening on the way, but I caught an idea from the 
last which I resolved to carry out f or the benefit of our 
author, the first good opportunity that might present 
itself, and thus furnish him with the "material" for 
another thrilling chapter of the "Wayworn Wan- 
derer." 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Another Rattlesnake — How to Manage Rattlesnakes — Terrific 
Adventure with a Grape-vine Rattlesnake. 



T 



^ÍHE next day I rodé along with our author, 
knowing if there was a rattlesnake on the road 
he would be sure to find it; and in fact he soon 
stirred up one, and I got down and killed it and pulled 
off its rattles, which I slipped into my pocket, unno- 
ticed by our author. "Captain," said he, as I re- 
mounted, "how in the world have you managed to live 
so long and camp out so much at night in this wilder- 
ness without ever having been bitten by a rattle- 
snake?" 

"Why, you see," I answered, "if you don't lose 
your presence of mind, there's very little danger of a 
rattlesnake's biting you, even when he crawls to bed 
with you at night. When you discover one crawling 
under your blankets, all you've got to do is to lie still 
and let him fix himself to his notion (and they always 
pick out the warmest places) , and as soon as he is fast 
asleep, you can jump up without the least danger of 
being bitten; but if you should move a peg before he 
has settled himself, he'll 'nip you' to a certainty." 

"Yes," replied our author, "but who could lie still 
under such circumstances ?" 

"I have," said I, "a hundred times. One dark night, 
about a year ago, when I was camping near the edge 
of a thick chaparral, I felt a fellow crawling under my 
blanket. I lay perfectly still, and let him select his own 
locality, and nothing would do him but a place right 



144 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



along side of my face. I tell you it was pretty hard 
work to keep quiet when I felt his scaly sides rubbing 
up against my neck and face, as he slowly wound him- 
self in his coil. After he had fixed himself to his 
notion, I lay perfectly still a few moments longer, to 
make sure he was asleep, and then sprang up suddenly, 
and striking a light, soon had the gentleman's head 
mashed as flat as a pancake. Remember, Mr. Au- 
thor,"I continued, "there's no danger at all of a rattle- 
snake's biting you at night, if you only lie still and 
keep quiet until he settles himself." 

"Yes," said our author ; "but who could lie still and 
keep quiet (unless he was made out of cast-iron) while 
a rattlesnake was slowly coiling itself up in his bosom ? 
Ugh ! the bare idea makes me shudder from head to 
foot." 

I saw that my "snake story" had produced the de- 
sired eífect upon him, and for the time I dropped the 
subject. The next night we encamped in a very snaky- 
looking locality, and I cut oíf a piece of grape-vine 
about as thick as an ordinary rattlesnake, which I 
slyly slipped under the edge of our blanket just before 
we "turned in." About half an hour after we had lain 
down, I drew out the slip of grape-vine and ran it 
slowly along the author's back, at the same time 
gently shaking my rattles, which I held in the other 
hand. He was just on the eve of dropping off to sleep, 
but the crawling motion and the "rattling" aroused 
him in an instant. 

u Oh! murder, captain," said he, "there's a rattle- 
snake crawling along my back ! What in the world am 
Itodo?" 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



145 



U I know ít," I answered, "I hear him rattling now 
( and I gently shook the rattles I held in my hand). 
Lie still, and don't move a muscle until he coils up." 

"Oh, yes," said the poor fellow(and his teeth fairly 
chattered from fright), "it's easy enough for yoü to 
say lie still when I am between you and the snake, but 
it isn't so easy for me, for I can feel him squirming 
along my back now." 

"I know that," said I, "but you must lie still, for the 
first motion you make, he will have his f angs into you, 
sure." 

"Oh!" said the poor fellow, as I gave the vine 
another serpentine twist along his back, "this is more 
than human nature can bear — ugh! ugh! Captain, 
can't you do anything for me?" 

"There's no danger at all," I said, "if you will only 
keep still; he will soon settle himself, and then you 
can jump up without the least risk of being bitten. 
When he quits rattling altogether," said I, shaking 
the rattles in my hand, "you will know that he's 
asleep." 

"Captain," he replied, in a faint and husky voice, 
as I gave the vine another twist and shook the rattles, 
"this is past endurance. I must get out of this at all 
hazards." 

"Unless you want to die," said I, "don't do it, but 
lie as still as a mouse when puss is about. By the way, 
Mr. Author," said I, "can you tell me whether the 
rattlesnake is confined to the American continent, or 
if he is to be found also in other countries? I have 
heard a great many opposite opinions on the subject, 
some pretend to think," I continued, giving the vine 



146 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



another twist, "that they are a species of the Cobra di 
Capello, the most poisonous serpent in the world." 

"Captain," said our author, getting the better of 
his fright for the moment, in his indignation at being 
asked such an untimely question, "I like an inquiring 
mind, but I must say that you select the strangest occa- 
sions imaginable for obtaining information upon such 
subjects. Why, man," he continued, in a rage, and 
totally unsuspicious that I was playing upon him, "do 
you suppose a man is in a condition to anwser any 
question rationallv with a rattlesnake spooning up to 
his back?" 

"There is no doubt," said I, pretending not to 
notice what he had said, and giving the vine another 
rake along his back, "that if they are not a species of 
the Cobra, they are just as poisonous, for I have seen 
a man die in twenty minutes after he had been bitten 
by one of them. There was Jake Thompson, who was 
bit on the foot by one, when we were scouting a year 
or two ago on the Nueces, and he didn't live long 
enough to say 'Jack Robinson, Júnior;' and yet in that 
little time he turned as black in the face as a negro, 
and his body swelled up till he was as big as a 'skinned 
horse'." 

"Captain," said he, "will you do me the favor to 
postpone the balance of that interesting story for an- 
other occasion? 1*11 back you against the world for 
picking out the most unsuitable times for telling your 
yarns." 

"Oh! I beg your pardon," said I, "I forgot you 
wasn't broke into the ways of the wilderness yet. 
When you have 'bunked' with a hundred rattlesnakes, 
as I have done, you won't mind it a bit. I recollect 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



147 



about six years ago, when Bill Hankins and me were 
out hunting on the head-waters of the León, we 
camped one night — " 

"Oh! good gracious," said the author, "Bill Han- 
kins again, and the head-waters of the León! Cap- 
tain, I want you to distinctly understand that Tve 
heard just as much as I desire of Bill Hankins and the 
head-waters of León, and — " 

"Oh! very well," I said, interrupting him in turn, 
and shaking my rattles, and screwing the vine into the 
small of his back, 'Tve no wish at all to forcé my 
stories upon you." 

"Ugh!" said the poor fellow, "this is past all en- 
durance. Captain, remember me to all inquiring 
friends, and don't forget that the manuscript of the 
'Wayworn Wanderer' is in my saddle-bags. Give it 
to the world with all its imperfections !" 

"Hold on just one minute longer," I said, giving 
the rattles a vicious shake, "and you will be all right." 

"Not another second," he cried, "it's no use talk- 
ing, I may just as well die one way as another," and 
he made a desperate bound from under the blanket, 
and pitched head foremost on the ground ten or 
twelve paces off. 

I seized a bottle of "Chili pepper-sauce" and ran to 
where he was lying. "Here, Mr. Author," I said, 
"drink this quick !" He took it, and in the hurry and 
excitement of the moment, hastily swallowed about a 
pint of the contents. 

"Gracious," said I, "you have made another won- 
derful escape." 

"I don't know so well about that," said he, sputter- 
ing and gasping for breath. "I'm afraid Fm bit." 



148 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"Do you feel," I asked, "as if you were up to your 
waist in a kettle of melted lead?" 

"Not exactly," he replied, drawing his breath 
through his teeth, "but I feel as though I had swal- 
lowed a quart or so of it." 

"Then," said I, "you are all safe, and you have 
made the most wonderful escape on record. No one 
before has ever missed being bit, who sprang off as 
you did, before the snake had coiled himself up. A 
most extraordinary escape, truly," I continued. 

"What in the world," said he, "was that stuff you 
gave me just now?" 

"That," replied I, "is an antidote I always keep for 
the bite of snakes. I got it from Tuppy's Foot,' the 
Tonkawa chief, and if taken in time it will kill the 
poison of the most venomous snake." 

"I have no doubt of it," said our author ; "it would 
kill oíd Satán himself. It is hot enough to scald the 
throat out of a brass monkey. For mercy's sake, give 
me some water to cool my coppers." 

I handed over the gourd to him, and he took a long 
swig at it, then seating himself on a log by the fire, in 
spite of my remonstrances, he persisted in sitting up 
the balance of the night. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Fresh Signs of the Indians — Our Author in Trouble Again- 
Scatter Guns Compared with Bows and Arrows. 



PTF^HE next morning, the little author looked so 
palé and haggard, after his terrible encounter 
JLL with the snake, I really felt sorry for him, and 
inwardly resolved that I would play no more such 
practical jokes upon him. However, he had got such 
a scare that from that time until his return to the 
"settlements," he never slept again upon the ground. 
By means of a blanket and a staking rope, the first 
thing he did of an evening when we stopped to camp 
was to rig up an impromptu hammock, which he would 
stretch between two trees, out of the reach of snakes 
and other varmints, and in this airy roosting-place he 
would safely swing till morning. 

Day after day, we followed our Indian trail with 
dogged perseverance, never leaving it for a moment, 
except when we were in search of a suitable camping- 
place for the night. On the morning of the fifteenth 
day after leaving my ranch on the Medina, we struck 
the range of high hills in which the head-waters of the 
Guadalupe take their rise. Here, the trail was so 
fresh, and other indications of the proximity of the 
Indians were so apparent, that I determined to move 
forward with the utmost caution, as I could hope to 
effect nothing of importance with the small forcé I 
had with me, except by taking the Indians by surprise. 
I therefore struck camp in a little valley, shut in on 



i 5 o 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



all sides by high hills, and sent forward, on foot, two 
of my most experienced trailers to reconnoitre. 

I had issued strict orders against the firing of guns, 
for fear some straggling Indians might be in the vicin- 
ity and give the alarm, and I was, therefore, much 
astonished when, a short time after we had halted, I 
heard the report of a gun in camp ; and looking round 
I discovered our little author running toward me for 
dear life, and a big fellow by the ñame of Bill Haw- 
kins in cióse pursuit of him, with a poking stick in his 
hand, which he evidently intended to make use of as 
soon as he could get within striking distance. It was 
"nip and tuck" between them, but the little author 
fairly kept the lead until he reached me, when he 
jumped behind my back as nimbly as he had done 
behind the tree when the buck was after him upon a 
former occasion. 

"Helio !" said I to Hawkins, as he carne up, puffing 
and blowing, "what's the row now?" 

"Look here, captain," said he, pulling at a few 
crisped remnants of hair that still hung to one side of 
his head, "look what that dratted author has done to 
me ! He's let off his little 'scatter gun' right into my 
face, and hasn't left hair enough on my head for a nit 
to hatch in. Phew ! I smell worse than a singed 'pos- 
sum ! The little varmint ain't no more fit to handle a 
gun than a ribbed-nose baboon." 

"See here, my friend," said our little author, step- 
ping boldly forward, and beginning to shuck off his 
coat, "the firing of my gun was entirely accidental, 
and I am sorry I singed your hair off in that way ; but 
if you are determined to make a fighting matter of it, 
you can 'pitch in' as soon as you please." 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



Bill weighed about two hundred pounds, exclusive 
of accoutrements, and was known all over the country 
as the toughest hand in a bear-fight west of Colorado 
River ; but when he saw the little author spunking up 
to him in that way, and beginning to peel in readiness 
for a íight, his anger was gone in a moment, and a 
good-natured smile spread over his weather-beaten 
features. 

"Well," said he, "my little fellow, I 'spose the gun 
did go oíf accidentally, but I've noticed they always do 
so (unless they snap) when they are loaded and some- 
body cocks 'em and pulís the trigger. However, we'll 
not fight about it this time, for the fact is," Bill con- 
tinued, winking at me, and looking down upon the 
"scant pattern" of the little author, "you rather 'over- 
size my pile ;' so you kin just put on your coat agin for 
the present. I'm snapped, though, if you ever git an- 
other showing at my head with that pop-gun of 
yourn;" and saying this, Bill stalked back to his camp, 
smoothing down as he went along the singed and 
crisped remnants of his yellow locks. 

"It's too bad," said the little author, in a vexed 
tone, u but that is certainly the most perverse gun of 
mine that was ever made. Whenever I want it to 
shoot, I can't get it to go off unless I stick a chunk of 
fire to the touch-hole ; but when I least expect it, bang ! 
it goes without the least provocation in the world. I 
wish I could swap it for a good bow and arrows! 
They never go off till you are ready; and, besides, 
there is a sort of romance associated with archery that 
carries one back to the days of chivalry — of cloth- 
yard shafts, and the good oíd times of Robin Hood." 

"Well," said I, not understanding exactly what our 



152 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



author meant by all this rigmarole, "I have seen a 
great many men in my time spitted with 'dogwood 
switches,' but I never heard one of them yet com- 
plain of feeling anyways romantic under the circum- 
stances. But the truth is, Mr. Author, if you only 
understood the use of 'em, you might have a worse 
weapon than a good bow and arrows ; at least, I know 
they are pretty dangerous in the hands of an Indian. 
They can shoot their arrows faster than you can fire 
a revolver, and almost with the accuracy of a rifle at 
the distance of fifty or sixty yards, and with such forcé 
that I have frequently seen them drive a shaft through 
and through a full-grown buffalo. 

U I remember once, in a little scrimmage we had 
with the Indians on the head of the León ('Oh, my!' 
exclaimed the author, 'there's the head of that León 
again!'), I saw one of them drive an arrow through 
a man at the distance of seventy-five or eighty paces, 
and into another, who was standing just behind him ; 
and there they were, fastened together like a couple 
of Siamese twins. The man in front was killed in- 
stantly, but the one behind at length kicked loóse f rom 
the traces and eventually got well, though he carries 
the head of the arrow in his breast to this day. 

"The heads of the arrows used in war are barbed, 
and fastened on very slightly with deer sinews, so that 
when an attempt is made to extract them from any- 
thing into which they may be driven, they are almost 
always left behind in the wound. The only alternative 
is to push them through, whatever may be in their 
way — heart, liver, or lungs ; but this, as you may well 
suppose, is a very dangerous operation, and besides, 
not a very pleasant one, even when not followed by 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



153 



fatal consequences. There is one serious drawback, 
however, to the bow and arrows in the hands of the 
Indians, and that is, that they are almost useless in 
very damp or rainy weather, owing to the f act that the 
strings they use are made of deer sinews, which 
stretch so much when wet that it is almost impossible 
to keep the bow properly strung; and, for this reason, 
it is always most prudent to attack an Indian forcé in 
misty or rainy weather, for they have to rely, then, 
mainly upon their oíd flint-and-steel guns, which are 
poor weapons except at very cióse quarters. There," 
said I, "Mr. Author, are some facts in regard to 
archery which you may note down in the 'Wayworn 
Wanderer' as beyond dispute." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



The Indians Overtaken — Desperate Fight — The Author Proves 
Himself a Good Soldier — The Indian Girl — The Author Has 
a Race for His Life — The Umbrella Comes in Play — Gath- 
ering Up the Spoils — The Horses Recovered — Farewell to 
the Author. 

A LITTLE before sundown, the trailers I had 
¿=\ sent out reported that they had discovered 
-¿L )\, a large Indian camp about six miles beyond 
where we were, and that they were confident the In- 
dians had no suspicion of our proximity. I at once 
determined to make an early start next morning, so 
as to reach the Indian camp about daylight. Every- 
thing was got in readiness for the move, and by 3 
o'clock we were all mounted and on trail again. There 
was no moon, and the night consequently was very 
dark, but we found no difficulty in following the trail, 
as our guides had so recently passed over it. 

Just as the first streak of daylight became visible in 
the east, we carne in view of the Indian encampment, 
situated in a pecan grove in the centre of a beautiful 
valley, which was hemmed in by high rugged hills on 
all sides, except in the direction we were approaching 
it. The smokes from their smouldering fires rose up 
in slim straight columns above the trees, and not a 
sound disturbed the deep silence that reigned around, 
except the occasional yelp of a cur in the encampment, 
or the distant howling of a wolf among the hills. 

The Indians evidently had had no notice of our 
approach. As I gazed upon the quiet and peaceful 
scene, I could not help feeling some compunctions of 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



155 



conscience for the "bloody awakening" that was soon 
to rouse up my oíd f riends and allies f rom their morn- 
ing slumbers; but then, when I thought of the 
"scurvy," rascally trick they had played me, I dis- 
missed all such ideas from my mind, and made my 
arrangements for an immediate attack upon the en- 
campment. 

About one-half of my men, led by Nathans, an oíd 
Rocky Mountain hunter, I sent around to the left, 
under cover of a low range of hills, with instructions 
to attack the Indians in the rear, whilst I slowly moved 
forward with the balance to assail them in front. A 
discharge of guns from the first party was to be a 
signal for a general assault. 

I advanced my party to within one hundred and 
fifty yards of the encampment under cover of a thicket 
of dogwood, and there halted to wait for the con- 
certed signal. In a few minutes the keen report of a 
dozen rifles was heard on the opposite side of the en- 
campment, warning us that the time for action had 
arrived, and putting spurs to our horses, we dashed 
furiously into the Indian village, and dismounting 
from our horses, we poured in a deadly fire from our 
rifles and "repeaters" upon the warriors, as they 
rushed out, confused and frightened, from the doors 
of their lodges. But, although taken completely by 
surprise, they fought with great desperation and ob- 
stinacy, and for half an hour the possession of the 
camp was hotly contested by both parties. At one 
time I thought I should be compelled to beat a retreat, 
for the Indians greatly outnumbered us, but just at 
this juncture the fall of one of their head chiefs threw 
them into momentary confusión, and taking advan- 



i|6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



tage of it, we charged them so vigorously that they at 
length slowly and sullenly retreated into a thick chap- 
arral in the vicinity of their camp, leaving twenty- 
seven of their warriors dead upon the ground. Their 
wounded they carried off with them. 

During the fíght, I noticed our author several times 
busily "pegging away" with his little bird-gun, and 
every now and then yelling like a "tiger cat," when- 
ever he saw an Indian fall, but I am very sure 
(although I believe his will was good) that nothing 
ever fell before his fire, except the top of a mesquite- 
bush, a few feet from the muzzle of his gun. He was, 
however, evidently under the impression himself that 
everything depended upon his personal exertions, and 
he "blazed away" and hurrahed, and jumped around, 
ordering this one to do that, and that one to do this, 
until he was in a lather of sweat, and looked like a 
stunted coal-heaver, on account of the way in which 
he had smeared his hands and face with gunpowder. 
The men, of course, paid no attention to his orders ; 
nevertheless the little author evidently had risen a 
hundred per cent in their estimation from the courage 
he displayed, and the recklessness with which he ex- 
posed himself to the fire of the Indians. 

In the very height of the engagement, and just at 
the time I began to think seriously of quitting the field, 
I heard a shrill voice exclaim, "Oh, que, Wallace !" 
and a young Indian girl darted out of a lodge near by, 
and seizing the skirt of my hunting-shirt, she clung to 
it f rantically until the fight was over, and the warriors 
were in the act of retreating. 

I felt sorry for the poor little thing, and tried my 
best, by keeping her behind me, to shield her from the 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



157 



bullets and arrows that were flying about thick and 
fast; but unluckily, in the very last volley the Indians 
gave us, a stray bullet struck her full in the breast, and 
she sank to the ground. I dropped my rifle and raised 
her up in my arms, but I saw in a moment that she had 
received a fatal wound, for her eyes were already 
glazing, and she was gasping for breath. I laid her 
down upon the soft green grass at the foot of a pecan- 
tree, and for an instant she seemed to revive. Look- 
ing sorrowfully at me, she said, in broken English and 
Spanish : 

"Oh, Capitán Wallace, I know you. Mi madre — 
mi pobrecito padre — no kill 'em — adiós" — and then 
a slight shudder passed over her, her head gently fell 
back upon my arm, and the poor little thing was be- 
yond the triáis and troubles of this wicked world. 

The sort of life that I had led had not been one 
particularly to soften a fellow's heart, but I am not 
ashamed to own, as I gazed upon the stiífening form 
of this forest child, so cruelly cut down by the hands 
of her own friends and relatives, that my eyes were 
dimmed with tears, and I sincerely wished on her 
account that I had permitted her tribe to go unpun- 
ished for breaking the treaty they had made with me. 

However, it was too late then to indulge in useless 
regrets; and in fact I had no time to do so, for the 
Indians, when they retreated, had quickly made off for 
some place in the vicinity where their horses were 
staked out, and mounting them, they returned and re- 
newed the fight with greater obstinacy than ever. We 
mounted our horses, also, and in this way the contest 
for the possession of the village was continued for 
half an hour longer. But, although they outnumbered 



i 5 8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



us still at least two to one, the superiority of our 
weapons, especially our revolvers, which at that time 
were almost unknown to the Indians, more than made 
up for our deficiency in numbers, and they at length 
gave way. Breaking up into little squads, they fled in 
every direction before my men, who followed them in 
the same disorderly manner. 

Just at this stage of the game, having seen nothing 
of our little author for some time, I looked around to 
ascertain what had become of him. Casting my eyes 
up the open valley to our left, I saw him coming "full 
split" toward me, on "Oíd Paint," bare-headed and 
apparently unarmed, and a half dozen mounted In- 
dians in cióse pursuit of him. Two or three of us, who 
happened to be near by, immediately spurred our 
horses and galloped out to meet him, to help him in 
any way we could in making good his retreat, although 
f rom the rapidity with which the Indians lessened the 
distance between the little author and themselves, I 
had but faint hopes that we could reach him before 
they carne up with him. "Oíd Paint," however, held 
his own much better than any one would have sup- 
posed possible ; but at length the f oremost Indian rodé 
up so near that we saw him draw back his lance, for 
the purpose of driving it through our little friend. At 
that moment I gave him up for lost, but the little 
author, it seems, had his wits fully about him, and had 
been closely watching the motions of the Indians over 
his shoulder, for just at this crisis he snatched his 
"umbrell" from behind his saddle, and suddenly 
wheeling oíd Paint, he flopped it open right in the eyes 
of the Indians' horses. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



159 



The effect of this masterly movement was instan- 
taneous and magical. The Indians' horses stopped 
for a second as suddenly as if they had been turned to 
stone, and gazed with terror and astonishment upon 
the strange-looking object presented toward them; 
then wheeling as quack as lightning, in spite of all the 
efforts of their riders, they dashed off like mad in the 
direction they had come. In a few minutes the little 
author trotted up to where we were, looking as pleas- 
ing as a basket of chips, and smiling as complacently 
as if he thought it no ways strange at all that he 
should have routed a half dozen warriors with no 
other weapon than his much-abused "umbrell." 

The men were so much "tickled" with his reckless- 
ness and daring (for by this time a crowd had gath- 
ered around us, who had witnessed the whole pro- 
ceeding) that they welcomed him as he rodé up with a 
shout that might have been heard for a mile. 

"Darn my hind sights," said Bill Sykes, an oíd fron- 
tiersman and Indian-íighter, "ef this ain't the first time 
I ever knowed or hearn tell of a gang of Ingins bein' 
whipped with nothing but an 'umbrell.' I never seed 
horses so badly 'stampeded' before in my life ! They'd 
just as soon run over a bluff forty feet high as — up a 
tree, any way to git out of reach of that 'umbrell.' Ef 
the fellow would only put it up at auction, I'd bid high 
on itmyself, I would; I'd rather have it than a pair of 
Derringers, any day." 

"And who'd have thought it?" said another; "the 
little cuss has got sand in his craw certain, and back- 
bone enough for a feller three times his length. If 
Big-Foot gits 'upped' [killed] on this scout, or re- 
signs, FU vote for him to be captain of this squad, 



i6o 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



sure — don't care if he does fill his saddle-wallets with 
rocks, and totes a 'pepper-box' for a repeater. He's 
true blue and no mistake." 

"Well, Mr. Author," said I, as he rodé up, "you 
have had a closer shave for your life this time than 
you did when the buck was after you. I began to think 
sure enough that you would never live to finish your 
great novel of the 'Wayworn Wanderer'." 

"Yes," he answered, U I was in a pretty tight place 
for a while, and I began to think myself that the world 
would never see the revised edition of the 'Wayworn 
Wanderer.' The fact is though, captain, this 'scrim- 
maging,' as you cali it, with the Indians, is a very ex- 
citing business, and f orgetting the oíd saying 'that dis- 
cretion is the better part of valor,' I followed a party 
of them too far, and before I was aware of my dan- 
ger, they turned upon me ; and dropping my gun and 
pistol, which were both empty, I had, as you saw, to 
depend on the heels of 'Paint' to take me out of the 
scrape. But, didn't I send 'em to the right-about 
though, when I unmasked my 'battery' on them? 
They went back a good deal faster than they had 
come !" 

"Yes," said I, "Mr. Author, you have saved your 
scalp pretty cleverly this time ; but I would advise you 
not to be so venturesome in the future, for fear your 
'umbrell' might not serve you as well on another 
occasion." 

When we got back to the village, we found the men 
busily engaged in collecting the "plunder" the Indians 
had stowed away in their lodges, and piling it up in the 
centre of the square, previous to distribution, and the 
amount of it was truly astonishing. Kegs of powder, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



161 



sacks of lead, bales of blankets, dry goods, brass ket- 
tles, beads, skins, and buffalo-robes, cutlery and hard- 
ware of various sorts, and a great variety of camping 
and hunting equipments, mostly of their own manu- 
facture. About this time a party of my men carne in 
from following the retreating Indians, bringing with 
them one hundred and seventy head of horses and 
mules, which they had found penned up in a corral 
near by, and among them were most of those that had 
been stolen from me. 

Whilst the men were engaged in dividing out the 
"plunder" among themselves, or such of it as they 
could carry along with them, the little author and I 
took an oíd spade we picked up near one of the lodges, 
and going to where I had left the lifeless form of the 
Indian maiden, we dug a grave at the foot of a pecan- 
tree, and wrapping her up in a clean white blanket, we 
gave her as decent a burial as we could. The little 
author seemed very sorry when I told him how she 
had been accidentally killed in the fight by her own 
people, but said he would make her all the amends in 
his power for the melancholy fate, by immortalizing 
her under the ñame of "Pa-ha-tal-ca" or the "Soft 
Wind," in his great novel of the "Wayworn Wan- 
derer." 

In the second fight with the Indians, they lost 
twenty-one warriors, making altogether forty-eight 
of them killed and left upon the ground. I had but 
two men killed and five wounded. The Lipans never 
recovered from the fatal blow we gave them on this 
occasion. From having been, up to this time, a for- 
midable tribe, able to send out six or eight hundred 
warriors into the field, they rapidly dwindled away 



l62 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



until now they scarcely number a hundred souls, men v 
women, and children, all told. 

Nothing worthy of note occurred on our way back 
home. I parted with our little author at San Antonio, 
and he promised me faithfully to send me a copy of 
his book as soon as it was published; but I never got 
it, ñor do I know to this day whether or not he has 
ever exposed, as he threatened to do, the "humbug- 
eries" of Mr. Cooper, in his great novel of the "Way- 
worn Wanderer of the Western Wilds." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Wallace Surprises a Party of Indians Who Were Making 
Themselves "Comfortable" Near His Ranch. 

INDIANS are sometimes monstrous impudent and 
will run the greatest risks without anything to gain 
by it. Would you believe, that not more than six 
months ago a party of five Tonkawa warriors carne 
within half a mile of my ranch, and in broad daylight 
killed one of my fattest "mavericks," pitched their 
camp, and set in for a general jollification? 

It happened that morning that Tom Jones, Bill 
Decker, Jeff Bonds and myself were out looking after 
the stock, when all at once Jeff remarked that he smelt 
meat roasting on the coals. I then turned up my nose 
to windward and smelt it, too, as plainly as I ever 
whiffed fried middling of a frosty morning with the 
breeze dead ahead, when I've been coming into camp 
after a three-hours' hunt before breakfast. Talk 
about your "Hostetters Bitters," and your "patent 
tonics !" the best tonic I know of is a three-hours' hunt 
among the hills on a frosty morning. It gives a fellow 
an appetite that nothing less than a u mule and a ham- 
per of greens" can satisfy. 

Well, as I was saying, just as soon as I smelt 
roasted meat, I knew there were Indians about, 
although the last place I should have looked, if I had 
been hunting for them, would have been the vicinity 
of my ranch. Still, I was certain they were there some- 
where, for wolves, and panthers, and catamounts, and 
other varmints, you see, always take their meat raw; 



164 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



so I told the boys to keep quiet and get down and 
fasten their horses. We then recapped our guns and 
revolvers, and cautiously crept along through the 
bushes until we discovered the Indians, not more than 
fifty yards from us, where they were making them- 
selves as much at home and as comfortable around 
their fire as if they were in the mountains about the 
head of the Guadalupe River, which is undoubtedly 
the roughest little scope of country to be found in the 
State of Texas. 

I whispered to Jeff, who was nearest to me : 

"Well, don't this beat you? Did you ever know 
such impudence before in your life? To kill one of 
my fattest 'mavericks' and barbecue it in broad day- 
light, within half a mile of my ranch ! Well, if I don't 
let 'em know I am the landlord of these 'diggins' yet, 
and bring in a bilí for the entertainment they have 
had, you may cali me 'short stock,' if I am six foot 
three in my stockings !" 

All this time the Indians never suspected we were 
near them. There was one big fellow among them, 
who must have been six feet two or three inches high 
in his stockings (though of course he never had on a 
pair in his life), and he was making himself very 
prominent around the fire, broiling the fat steaks of 
my "maverick" upon the coals, and turning and bast- 
ing the joints of meat on the spits, all the while laugh- 
ing and talking just as if he didn't know he was within 
a mile of Big-Foot's ranch. 

I don't think I ever felt less like giving quarter in 
my life but once, and that was when a big buck-nigger, 
with a nose like a "dormant" window, and a pair of 
lips that looked like he had been sucking a bee-gum 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



and got badly stung in the operation, objected to my 
registering as a voter. He was one of the Board of 
Registrars at Castroville, but he wasn't in a condition 
to object to any one else registering that day, and 
probably the next, for I took him a u clue" over the 
head that would have stunned a beef, but he never 
winked; and changing my tactics, I gave him twelve 
inches of solid shoe leather on the shins that brought 
him to his milk in short order. The "Buró" fined me 
fifty dollars and costs, but the amount isn't paid yet, 
and probably won't be until they can get a crowd that 
is good at trailing and fighting Indians to pilot the 
sheriff to my ranch. 

But. to come back to the Indians that were barbecu- 
ing my maverick; I determined to take the impudent 
chap that was making himself so "prominent" around 
the fire into my especial keeping, and I whispered Jeff 
to draw a bead on the one sitting down, and to tell Bill 
and Tom to shoot at the three standing up. At the 
word, all four of our rifles cracked like one gun. 

Just as I drew the trigger on him, the big Indian 
was lifting a "chunk" of my maverick from the fire. 
At the crack of the rifle, the "chunk" flew up in the 
air, and the big Indian pitched headforemost on his 
face right among the hot coals and ashes, and before 
we left there was a stronger smell of roast meat than 
ever; but it wasn't my maverick. 

Jeff also killed his Indian, dead in his tracks, but 
only one of those that Bill and Tom íired at was 
wounded, and not very badly at that. They retreated 
into the thick chaparral, and we never saw them 
again. However, we got all their bows and arrows, 
and one first-rate new flint-and-steel rifle, to say noth- 



i66 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



ing of the maverick, which was done to a turn, for, to 
give the scamps their due, they do understand roast- 
ing meat to a f raction. 

The big Indian that I got must have been a sort of 
chief, for he had about twenty pounds of brass rings 
on his arms, and a "cue" that reached down to his 
heels, that "nipped and tucked" in the hot ashes like 
a burnt boot. The other Indians took the little hint I 
gave them, and have never camped on my premises 
since. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The "Mier Expedition." 

DURING the fall of 1842, the "Mier Expedi- 
Ition," as it was called, was set on foot by the 
authoríties of Texas, in retaliation, I suppose, 
for the then recent invasión of the Republic by Gen- 
eral Woll, and the capture of the city of San Antonio. 
Of course, I was "on hand," as usual, and volunteered 
my services. Young men are always ready to volun- 
teer on "wild goose" expeditions, and I was no excep- 
tion to the rule; but as we grow older, we learn a 
thing or two, look some time before we leap, and don't 
"fly oñ the handle" quite so easily. 

The place of rendezvous was the city of San An- 
tonio, and the volunteers that assembled there for the 
expedition were placed under the command of Briga- 
dier-General Somerville, an officer of good standing 
and considerable reputation. A motley, mixed-up 
crowd we were, you may be certain — broken-down 
politicians from the u old States," that somehow had 
got on the wrong side of the fence, and been left out 
in the cold; renegades and refugees from justice, that 
had "left their country for their country's good," and 
adventurers of all sorts, ready for anything or any 
enterprise that afforded a reasonable prospect of ex- 
citement and plunder. Dare-devils they were all, and 
afraid of nothing under the sun (except a due-bill or a 
bailiff ) , and if they had been managed with skill and 
judgment, they would undoubtedly have accomplished 
all that was expected from the expedition; but dis- 



i68 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



sension, that bañe of raw troops, which has so 
often brought to grief expeditions of this kind, pre- 
vailed among our leaders, and in a short time after 
we had marched on and taken possession of Laredo, 
a little village on the eastern shore of the Rio Grande, 
the greater portion of our men became dissatisfied 
with the way in which matters were managed, and 
returned home. 

We f ound no troops in Laredo, and no attempt was 
made by the inhabitants to defend it. By the time we 
reached the place we had run short of provisions, and 
a requisition was made upon the citizens for a supply, 
and after obtaining a small quantity in this way, we 
marched out of town, and encamped for the night 
about three miles below it. 

On our way to camp, a man named De Boyce was 
accidentally killed by the discharge of a gun in the 
hands of a messmate. 

We remained at this camp all the next day, and the 
day after we took up the line of march down the left 
bank of the Rio Grande, keeping well to the eastward 
of the settlements on the river, so as to conceal our 
advance as much as possible from the enemy's scouts. 
We continued on southwardly for several days, 
through thickets of mesquite and other thorny shrubs, 
with which this country is covered, and then turning 
due west, soon struck the Rio Grande, about ten miles 
above Guerrero. Here we found two or three small 
boats, and at once proceeded to cross our whole forcé, 
now less than five hundred men, as Colonel Bennett, 
with all the "drafted men," had left us previously, 
and taken the "back track" toward home. The boats 
were quite small, and but f ew men could go in them at 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



169 



a time, and the day was pretty well gone before one- 
half of our forcé had landed on the opposite side. 

About this time, General Green, who had been sent 
f orward with a small forcé to reconnoitre in the direc- 
tion of Guerrero, carne back, closely pursued by a con- 
siderable body of Mexican cavalry. The men that 
had landed were at once formed in line of battle by 
Colonel Cook, and awaited the anticipated attack of 
the Mexicans; but, after circling round us and watch- 
ing our movements from a respectful distance, they 
galloped off, and we saw them no more that day. 

The next morning, the balance of our men were 
crossed over to the western side of the river, and we 
marched at once upon Guerrero. When within half a 
mile or so of the town, the alcalde carne out to meet 
us, and beggd us not to enter the place, as the citizens 
had been informed we intended to burn it and put 
them all to the sword. His request was complied 
with, and we encamped on the Salado, a small stream 
about a mile from the village. 

The next morning, when we were all anticipating 
every moment the order to advance upon the town, we 
were astonished by receiving an order from our com- 
mander to "prepare to retreat, and to recross the 
river as soon as possible." We supposed, however, 
that of course our commander had received some in- 
formation of the movements of the enemy that ren- 
dered this sudden retreat necessary, and we were soon 
in motion, and never halted until we were all safely 
landed again on the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, 
where we encamped for the night. 

Rumors were rife among the men as to the causes 
of this retrograde movement, but nothing definite in 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



regard to it seemed to be known to any one. Some 
said that our commander, General Somerville, had re- 
ceived orders f rom the President of Texas to abandon 
the expedition, but whether this was so or not I never 
knew; at an rate, he left us the next morning, and 
took back home with him a considerable number of 
the men. I had good reason afterward to regret that 
I had not continued my retreat with this crowd, for 
verily "discretion is the better part of valor." 

Those of us that remained behind (I think, about 
two hundred and twenty-four, all told) determined, 
as far as possible, to accomplish the objects of the 
expedition, and Colonel Fisher, an accomplished and 
tried officer, was selected for our "commander-in- 
chief." 

The morning after our new organization we re- 
crossed the Rio Grande again, eight miles f rom Mier, 
and marched at once upon the town, which we took 
possession of without any opposition. We found no 
troops there. The inhabitants were quite friendly 
apparently, and readily furnished us with such sup- 
plies as we needed; but had I known the Mexican 
character as well then as I do now, I should have sus- 
pected their sincerity precisely in proportion to the 
friendly manner in which they welcomed us. When I 
was at school, I learnt a Latin phrase," Taraco Dañaos 
et dona f 'érente s" ' (I fear the Greeks and the gifts they 
bring). And beware of the Mexicans, when they 
press you to hot coffee and "tortillas." Put fresh caps 
on your revolver, and see that your "shooting-irons" 
are all in order, for you will probably need them be- 
fore long. They are a great deal more treacherous 
than Indians. If you can manage to get into an In- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



dian's camp before he kills you, and can surprise him 
into offering you any little hospitality, even a drink of 
water, you are safe from him and his clan as long as 
you are with them. No temptation would induce him 
to "lift your hair. m 

But not so with the Mexican. He will f eed you on 
his best, "señor" you, and "muchas gracias" you, and 
bow to you like a French dancing-master, and wind it 
all up by slipping a knife under your left shoulder- 
blade ! And that's one reason I hate them so. I have 
respect for a bold and open enemy, but I despise your 
sneaking sort, who are forever hoisting "white flags" 
for the purpose of throwing you oíf your guard. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Over the Rio Grande Again — A Costly Exchange — Reception 
by the Mexicans — Firing an "Escopeta" — Fighting in 
Earnest — Captain Cameron and the Mexican Soldier. 

HEN we had got all the supplies we 
needed from the citizens of Mier, we re- 
crossed the river once more and pitched 
our camp about four miles east of the town. No plun- 
dering was permitted while we were in Mier, and 
everything we took from the inhabitants was duly 
paid for according to our own estímate of its valué, 
and of course the prices were quite reasonable. 

The next day after our return to the east side of the 
river, some of the scouts we had left on the west side 
to watch the motions of the enemy, carne into camp 
and reported that a large body of Mexican troops 
were marching into Mier. This we regarded as a 
banter for a fight ; so we struck tents, crossed the river 
once more and for the last time, and marched on the 
city, which, as our spies had truly reported, we now 
found strongly garrisoned by a considerable Mexican 
forcé. 

Before we crossed the river, a certain number of 
our men were detailed to remain at camp as a guard 
for our horses and baggage, and it was my luck to be 
chosen one of them. But I did not fancy that sort of 
business, and resolved, by some means or other, to 
make one of the detachment that was to advance on 
Mier. As it happened, one of my messmates, who had 
as little inclination for the f ront as I had for guarding 




BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



173 



horses in the rear, proffered to exchange places with 
me, to which I, of course, readily consented, and at 
the time we were both, no doubt, well satisfied with 
the arrangement; but it wasn't a great while before I 
rued the trade I had made with him, and would gladly 
have swapped back again and given considerable 
"boot." 

Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the evening, our whole 
detachment had crossed the river, and we at once took 
up the line of march for Mier. We saw no signs of 
the enemy, except a few mounted scouts, who re- 
treated expeditiously as soon as we carne in sight, 
until we carne to the Alcantero, a little stream a few 
hundred yards from the town. 

Here we made all necessary preparations and ad- 
vanced to the attack; but in place of hot coffee and 
tortillas, as in the former instance, we were received 
by the Mexicans with shouts of deíiance, and heavy 
discharges from their "escopetas." 

These "escopetas" are a short bell-mouth, bull- 
doggish looking musket, carrying a very heavy ball, 
which is "death by the law" when it hits, but that is 
seldom, for they shoot with little accuracy. They are 
good for nothing, except to make a noise, and a volley 
from them always put me in mind of the oíd saying 
about shearing hogs — "Great cry and little wool." I 
never fired one of them but once, and that was at the 
battle of the Salado, near San Antonio. 

During the fight, I carne across a dead Mexican 
with one in his hands, and as my rifle was empty at 
the time, I hastily caught it up, placed the breech 
against my shoulder, as I was in the habit of doing 
with my own gun, and fired at a party of the enemy 



174 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



who were retreating from the field. My first impres- 
sion was that I had been struck with a nine-pound 
cannon-ball. It kicked me heels over head, and I sup- 
pose kept on kicking me after I was down, for when 
I "carne to" I found that my nose was unjointed and 
two of my ribs stove in. I have since found that the 
Mexicans never place them to the shoulder, but hold 
them with both hands above their heads and fire at 
random, which accounts in a great measure for the 
little execution done by them. 

But to come back to my story. The Mexicans re- 
ceived us, as I said, with heavy discharges from these 
escopetas, and after some sharp skirmishing we got 
possession of a portion of the town, and the fighting 
began in earnest. 

Among us there were some of the best marksmen 
in the world, backwoodsmen from Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, and Arkansas, and every "greaser" that ventured 
to peep at us above the parapets of the houses, and 
round the corners of the streets, was sure to get a 
bullet through his head. 

In the meantime, with crowbars and picks, some of 
us were busily engaged in breaking through the stone 
walls of the buildings, and in this way we were rapidly 
advancing toward the "square," in the centre of the 
town. Night, however, carne on and put an end, for 
the time, to the contest. 

So far, we had lost but one man killed (Major 
Jones, former Postmaster-General of the Republic). 
The Mexican loss must have been considerable, but 
we had no means of ascertaining the extent of it. 

Just as the íight ended, two or three of us had 
picked our way into a room, where we found a table 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



175 



well coveredwith various sorts of eatables — "chili con 
carne " "tortillas," -tic, several bottles of "pulque" 
and a box full of fine "puros " or Spanish cigars. At 
first, we were a little suspicious of these things, think- 
ing the Mexicans might have left them on purpose, 
for the benefit of the "gringos" and we touched them 
sparingly. But hunger at length got the better of our 
suspicions, for we had not eaten a bite all day, and w r e 
pitched into them, regardless of consequences, and 
made a jolly night of it. 

At daylight the next morning the Mexicans began 
to blow their bugles and beat their drums, and to 
make a great to do generally; but Tom Hancock, a 
messmate of mine, who had been among the Mexicans 
a long time, and knew their character well, told us not 
to be alarmed, as they were merely playing a "game 
of bluff," and that he had always noticed that the 
more noise they made the less stomach they had for 
fighting. But it seems that the garrison had been 
greatly reinforced during the night, and, confident in 
their numbers, they charged us in the position we 
occupied with more spirit than we had given them 
credit for. The fire from our rifles, however, was so 
rapid and deadly that they at length fell back in con- 
fusión, leaving the streets and plaza strewed with 
their dead and wounded. 

For some time after this repulse they contented 
themselves with firing upon us at "long taw," from 
their port-holes and the flat roofs of their houses, but 
gradually growing bolder, as reinforcements carne in, 
they charged us again and again with great impetu- 
osity and courage, but each time with the same result. 
The last time, they pressed us so closely that our men, 



176 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



in many instances, after discharging their guns, fought 
them with rocks, which they tore up from the streets, 
and from the walls of the surrounding buildings. 

CaptainCameron, a man of extraordinary strength, 
having just discharged his rifle, was observed by sev- 
eral of us to seize a rock and dash out the brains of a 
Mexican soldier who was in the act of charging upon 
him with his bayonet. 

Some of the Mexican soldiers told us subsequently 
that they were all drunk, having been furnished by 
their officers with as much "pulque" as they could 
drink, in order to stimulate their courage, which will 
account for their unusual intrepidity and daring. 

I had a very narrow escape myself in this fight. 
After one of their charges upon us, in the excitement 
of the moment, I followed too far a party of retreat- 
ing soldiers, when they suddenly turned upon me, and 
before I was aware of my danger, I was surrounded, 
and escape was apparently impossible. I was deter- 
mined, however, to retreat at all hazards, and turned 
and dashed through their line. One fellow, as I 
passed, made a lunge at me with his bayonet, slightly 
wounding me in the left arm; but I made good my 
escape and rejoined my comrades, who had given me 
up for lost. 

The adventure had the eífect of cooling my courage 
considerably, and during the rest of the fight I kept 
within supporting distance of my comrades. 

The battle continued with great obstinacy on both 
sides, until perhaps one or two o'clock in the evening, 
when a temporary cessation took place of an hour or 
so, apparently by the tacit consent of both parties. 
And then aff airs took a turn I have never been able to 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



177 



account for satisfactorily to this day. Everything 
seemed to promise us a complete victory, for we had 
evidently been getting the best of the fight all day 
long, when the Mexicans hoisted a "white flag," and 
sent it into our lines by a Dr. Sennickson, one of our 
men that had been previously captured by them. Sen- 
nickson was accompanied by two Mexican officers, 
Algereto and Carasco. They bore a message from 
General Ampudia, requesting an entire cessation of 
hostilities for an hour longer. 

This request was readily acceded to by our com- 
mander, for no doubt he was fully under the impres- 
sion that the Mexicans intended surrendering the 
town to us. You can form some idea of our astonish- 
ment, then, when in a little while another officer carne 
into our lines, with a message from General Ampudia 
to the effect "that it was a useless waste of life for us 
to contend longer against his greatly superior forcé; 
that he had received large reinforcements, and had us 
completely in his power ; and if we would surrender at 
discretion, he pledged us his word we should be 
treated with liberality and clemency, but that if any 
further resistance was made, every one of us should 
be put to the sword without mercy." 

I had but little knowledge at that time of the Mexi- 
can character, but I have since learned whenever they 
hoisted the white flag and succeeded in persuading the 
Americans into a "parley," they invariably got the 
better of them in some way or other. It was so at the 
storming of Monterey, during the Mexican war. 
There, after three days' hard íighting, and just when 
we got the whole Mexican army completely in our 
power, they hoisted that same white flag, and "bam- 



i 7 8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



boozled" General Taylor into a "parley," and then 
into an "armistice" of thirty days, and finally into a 
"capitulation," which enabled them to march out with 
the "honors of war," and with all their arms and 
equipments; and he had to fight them over again at 
Buena Vista under the most disadvantageous circum- 
stances. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



Surrender to the Mexicans — General Green's Proposition — 
Marched Off to Prison — The Mexican Maiden — Ofí for 
Camargo — A Short Stay and Ofí Again — Reinosa. 

A LONG "talk" followed between our officers 
/==\ and the messengers of General Ampudia, 
jL. )\ going and coming. Some of our officers were 
in favor of fighting to the last, but the "white flag" 
had produced its usual effect upon the majority, who 
were in favor of surrendering, providing General 
Ampudia would grant us such terms as they thought 
honorable and reasonable. These terms were at 
length decided upon, written out on paper, and for- 
warded to General Ampudia. After some further 
parleying, General Ampudia finally consented to 
ratify the capitulation upon the terms demanded. 

It was at this stage of the proceedings that General 
Green stepped out of the ranks, and called for a hun- 
dred volunteers to go with him and cut their way 
through the Mexicans. But the attempt seemed such 
a hopeless one, that no one responded to his cali, and, 
mortified, the gallant soldier dashed his rifle to pieces 
against the ground, and resigned himself to his fate. 

We delivered up all our arms to the Mexicans, who 
marched us oíf in double file to our quarters in some 
deserted stone buildings. Never shall I forget the 
humiliation of my feelings, when we were stripped of 
all our arms and equipments, and led olí ignomini- 
ously by a numerous guard of swarthy, bandy-legged, 
contemptible u greasers." There we were,two hundred 



i8o 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



good men and true as ever shouldered a musket (for 
we had lost only about thirty men killed and wounded 
in the fight ) , for no earthly reason that I could see, 
bound hand and foot, and delivered over to the ten- 
der mercies of these pumpkin-colored Philistines, and 
all through the workings of that miserable little 
"white flag." I could have cried with a right good will 
if I hadn't been so mad. 

The forcé opposed to us in Mier, at the time of our 
surrender, as stated by the Mexicans themselves, 
amounted to something over three thousand men. Of 
these, upwards of five hundred, according to their 
own estimate, were killed in the fight. How many 
were wounded we never knew. In no other battle with 
the Americans, before or since, have the Mexicans 
ever displayed as much intrepidity and daring, and I 
have no doubt myself, that, as some of them told us, 
the greater portion of their soldiers were drunk on 
"pulque," with which they were liberally supplied by 
their officers during the fight. 

The guard we had left on the east side of the river, 
in charge of our horses and camp equipage, it seems 
got information of our surrender, by some means, in 
time to eífect their escape. They made their way 
safely back to Texas. 

As I have before stated, as soon as we had surren- 
dered, they fastened us up in some deserted stone 
buildings, like so many pigs, where we were kept for 
five or six days with nothing to eat except a little dried 
beef, which was so tough I gave one-half of my 
rations to a messmate, who had a remarkably strong 
set of teeth, to chew the other half for me; and, to 
wash this down, we were furnished with a limited sup- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



181 



ply of muddy water from the Rio Grande. However, 
there was no use to complain; we knew we were "in 
for it," and principally through our own stupidity and 
folly, and we resolved to make the best of the worst 
situation in which we might be placed. As for myself , 
I was somewhat better prepared for this course of 
dieting than most of the men, having had, as I have 
already mentioned, a good meal the night before we 
surrendered. 

Besides, on the morning of the second day after we 
were imprisoned, while I was sitting in front of a small 
grated window, looking out ruefully and hungrily 
upon the passers-by, a little Mexican maiden — bless 
her little tawny hide — carne tripping alone, and sus- 
pecting, from my woe-begone visage, the empty con- 
dition of my stomach, made signs to me to know if I 
didn't want something to eat. I could not speak a 
word of Spanish at that time, but I easily made her 
understand that she had guessed how matters were 
with me precisely, and she forthwith tripped oíf, and 
soon returned with a batch of the inevitable tortillas, 
some red peppers, and a considerable chunk of roast 
kid-meat, which she handed to me through the little 
window. 

I made her a low bow, pulled my forelock, and 
smiled as sweetly and as amiably as I could with my 
powder-burnt and dirt-begrimed countenance. She 
went off laughing at my grimaces, and turning a cór- 
ner, I lost sight of my little pumpkin-colored ángel 
forever. 

The tortillas were cold and tougher than army 
"flap-jacks," and the red pepper was as hot as mes- 
quite coals; but I was as sharp-set as a new saw, and 



182 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



of course not inclined to "look a gift horse in the 
mouth." I felt just as grateful to the little saffron- 
colored maiden as if she had feasted me on roast tur- 
key and plum pudding, and I hope her lot has been a 
happy one — tortillas, Chili pepper, and black-eyed 
papooses in abundance. 

For five or six days we were kept closely guarded 
and watched in these miserable quarters, until the 
morning of the 2 8th of December, when a pompous 
little Mexican official carne into our prison and told 
us to get ready immediately for a march, as we were 
to start at 10 o'clock that day for Camargo. 

But this intimation was hardly necessary, for we 
were prepared to start at a moment's warning, as 
everything we had in the world was upon our backs. 
The extra wardrobe of our whole forcé could easily 
have been packed in a lady's bonnet-box. 

At the hour designated by the little official, our 
Mexican guard made its appearance. It was com- 
manded by General Ampudia in person, and consisted 
of about six hundred infantry and a considerable body 
of cavalry, and a small company of artillery, with two 
six-pound field-pieces. Certainly a most ampie guard 
for two hundred half-starved, unarmed prisoners. 
After a f atiguing march of twenty-five or thirty miles, 
we reached the town of Camargo, and encamped in 
the vicinity, in commodious and well-ventilated quar- 
ters, at a corral or cattle-pen. 

Camargo diífers in nothing from every other Mexi- 
can town I have seen — the inevitable square in the 
centre, enclosed by lines of low, flat-roofed houses, 
with wretched "jacals" [pronounced "hakals"], built 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



183 



of sticks and mud, scattered promiscuously about the 
suburbs. 

Nothing that I remember now worthy of note oc- 
curred on our route to this place. Sometimes we were 
very roughly treated by the guard. Whenever a poor 
fellow lagged behind the column for an instant, they 
seemed to take an especial pleasure in accelerating his 
speed by the vigorous application of a bayonet. A 
bayonet is undoubtedly a powerful persuader. I have 
seen men when broken down and "beat out" by a hard 
day's march, wake up to new life and energy on the 
receipt of some welcome news, and, under like circum- 
stances, I have seen renewed vigor instilled into them 
by the spirited strains of a fine band of music; but 
nothing is so eífective in this way as one or two inches 
of cold steel in the body. I know this is so, for I speak 
from sad and personal experience of the fact. 

In the morning, after our guard had paraded us 
several times around the public square, to give the 
good people of Camargo a chance to look at the "wild 
Texans," we bid them farewell, and again took the 
road down the river. Occasionally we were halted 
to rest for an hour or so at the "haciendas" and 
"ranchos" on the way. 

In some places the inhabitants, and especially the 
women, seemed to compassionate the miserable con- 
dition of the "Gringos," as they called us, and gave 
us water to drink, and sometimes more substantial 
refreshments. In others, we were hooted at by the 
mob, that was sure to collect around us whenever we 
stopped for a few moments, who would cali us by all 
sorts of hard ñames, and pelt us with stones and clods 
of earth, and stale eggs. 



184 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



Foot-sore and weary,we at length reached Reinosa, 
a town about fifty miles below Camargo. Here we 
were received with discharges of musketry, and a gen- 
eral ringing of cracked bells, and as we were marched 
"triumphantly" into the public square, where banners 
of all kinds were flaunting in the air, the flat roofs of 
the houses and the porches and the balconies were 
thronged with women and children, anxious to get a 
peep at the "terrible Gringos." It made us feel quite 
proud, to think that we were the cause of all this noise 
and bustle. 

When they had paraded us around the square often 
enough to satisfy the curiosity of the good people of 
Reinosa, we were marched oíf to our quarters, in some 
oíd buildings just outside of the town. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Of¥ for Matamoros — Distinguished Reception at Matamoros — 
An Oratorical Display — Again on the Road — A Serious 
Loss — Goat or Dog? 

E remained at Reinosa a day or two, and 
then took the road again for Matamoros. 
We never halted except at night, when we 
were "corralled," like so many cattle, on the bleak 
prairies, without any shelter, and scarcely food 
enough to keep body and soul together, until we 
reached the "Heroic City." 

Is it any wonder, with the recollection of such treat- 
ment still fresh in their memory, that in the war which 
subsequently took place between México and the 
United States, the Texans should have sent many a 
"greaser" "up the spout," without the formality of a 
court-martial to decide upon his guilt or innocence? 
However, I can say for myself that I never killed one 
in cold blood. I always turned them loóse first and 
gave them a chance for their life; nevertheless, very 
few of them ever were heard of again, as in those days 
I was hard to beat in a "foot-race." 

As we approached the city of Matamoros, a great 
crowd of men, women, and children carne out to meet 
us, who were so anxious to get a look at the "wild 
Texans," that they couldn't await our arrival. Some 
were in vehicles of various kinds, some mounted on 
mustang ponies, and not a few upon the backs of the 
little "burros," or jacks, that were hardly as tall as a 
good-sized Newfoundland dog. Escorted in this way, 




i86 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



we entered the city of Matamoros, as at Reinosa, 
amid the firing of muskets, the waving of flags, and 
the clanging of bells, and after parading us, as usual, 
several times around the public square, we were 
marched oíf to our quarters in the outskirts of the city. 

Our men were so worn down by fatigue and "short 
commons" that it was found absolutely necessary to 
remain in the city for a few days, to give them a 
chance to recruit. But our stay there could hardly 
have been considered an entire respite f rom the hard- 
ships and discomforts of the road, for at that time 
the lower classes of the citizens of the "heroic city" 
were exceedingly bigoted and intolerant toward all 
"heredes," and especially the Texans, and, conse- 
quently, whenever an opportunity oífered, they never 
failed to render our situation as disagreeable as pos- 
sible. Some among the better class of inhabitants, 
however, were very kind to us, as were many of the 
foreign residents, and furnished us with occasional 
supplies of food and clothing; indeed, if it had not 
been for these charitable individuáis, we might have 
suffered considerably during our stay in the city, as 
the rations furnished us by the "commissariat" were 
remarkable neither for quantity ñor quality. 

One morning, a little bow-legged chap, dressed in 
uniform, and covered with stars and spangles, carne 
into our quarters, and made us a regular set speech, 
which was interpreted to us by an attendant. What 
was his purpose I could never understand, unless, like 
some of our politicians, he was resolved to neglect no 
opportunity of bringing himself prominently before 
the public. He told us, among other things, what a 
great and magnanimous people the Mexicans were; 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



I8 7 



that but for this fact, we would all have been taken 
out and executed as soon as captured, etc. ; and he 
finally wound up by saying that if the United States 
did not cease giving "aid and comfort" to the rebels 
of Texas, this great and magnanimous nation would 
collect an irresistible army, that would march from 
one victory to another, until the Mexican flag would 
float proudly from the dome of the Capitol at Wash- 
ington City! 

Here some fellow in the crowd sang out, "Oh, 
spare the women and children!" and another, "You 
had better whip Texas first, before you tackle Unele 
Sam!" But the little hero paid no attention to them. 
He continued in the same strain for some time, and 
then with a "grand flourish" turned on his heel, and 
stalked away majestically, his spurs clanking and his 
little sword trailing on the pavement behind him. 

I wonder what he thought of the "magnanimous 
nation" when, a few years afterward, General Scott 
planted the Stars and Stripes on the "Halls of the 
Monte zumas," with only ten thousand raw troops to 
back him ! 

Before we left Matamoros, a rumor reached the 
city in some way that General Rusk, with a consider- 
able forcé of Texans, was on his way to attack it. In 
consequence of this report, General Ampudia and the 
detachment of troops that had guarded us from Mier 
were ordered away, and another guard of raw recuits, 
under General Canales, was substituted for it. This 
substitution of new levies for the regular soldiers, of 
which our previous escort was composed, emboldened 
us afterward to concert a plan to surprise them, and to 
make our escape into Texas. 



i88 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



The officer in command of our guard (General 
Canales) was well known to many of us by reputation 
as a cruel, cowardly tyrant, and we knew very well we 
had no favors to expect from him, or from the ignor- 
ant, undisciplined recruits of which his forcé was com- 
posed. We were detained at Matamoros for six days, 
and on the mornlng of the seventh took up the line of 
march again for Monterey. With all its hardships 
and discomforts, I much preferred being on the road 
to confinement in the filthy prisons and quarters of the 
towns and villages through which we passed. While 
marching, I could, at any rate, breathe the puré, fresh 
air of heaven without being hooted at and reviled by 
the mob or rabble that always collected around us 
whenever we were halted on the way. 

On the first day's march I met with a serious mis- 
fortune in the loss of my "fine-tooth comb," which I 
had safely kept until then, in spite of our thievish 
Mexican guard, and which was my only "ark of 
safety" against the swarms of vermin with which they 
were infested. I have since lost articles of a thousand 
times more intrinsic valué than that little horn comb, 
but never anything the want of which I felt so sensi- 
bly. The want of many things may be supplied by 
tolerable substitutes, but nothing will answer in place 
of a "ridding comb," under such circumstances. 

Neither is there any substitute for tobáceo. I have 
tried all sorts of leaves, herbs, and roots, and have 
never yet found anything that would take its place. 
Ever since we were captured we had suífered as much 
for the want of tobáceo as for lack of sufficient and 
healthy food. The miserable little "cigaritos," with 
which we were occasionally supplied by the Mexicans 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



189 



(each containing about a good "pinch" for a snuff- 
taker) , only served to tantalize us. No one except an 
habitual consumer of the weed can appreciate or 
understand the soothing eífects, after a hard day's 
march, of a pipe full of the genuine Virgina "cut and 
dried." It will even mitígate, to a considerable extent, 
one's grief for the recent loss of dear friends. But 
these wretched little cigaritos always reminded me of 
the oíd saying of "feeding a hungry man on soup with 
a fork." I never got a chance at a good oíd solid plug 
again until after we were liberated and landed at New 
Orleans, on our way home. 

We encamped, the first night out from Matamoros, 
near a forlorn-looking little Mexican "ranch," where 
nothing was to be had to eat except a few scraggy 
goats, and naked, sore-eyed dogs. Even the inevit- 
able tortillas could not be had for love or money. 
Some of the boys pressed one of the little naked dogs 
into service for supper, but according to their report 
(for I did not taste it myself), it must have been a 
poor substitute for roast pig. They said it was exceed- 
ingly tough, and when cooked, that "it smelt worse 
than a wet dog." The mess, however, to which I be- 
longed was fortúnate enough to kidnap one of the 
goats, which furnished us with a tolerable meal. If 
that goat has ever been paid for yet, I am not aware 
of the fact. The inhabitants of this "ranch" were 
certainly the most wretched-looking specimens of hu- 
manity that I had ever seen, except perhaps the Dig- 
ger Indians of California. Men, women, and children 
were squalid and filthy beyond description, and one 
would have supposed that the very height of their 
ambition, in a worldly point of view, was to make 



190 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



shuck cigaritos and smoke them, and loll all day upon 
a beef-hide, eating dried meat and red pepper. But 
this will apply equally as well to all the lower classes 
of the Mexican people as to the inmates of this ranch. 
If you wish to bring a Mexican to the lowest depths 
of despair, cut him olí from cigaritos, red pepper, and 
tortillas. He might sustain existence for a little while 
under such distressing circumstances by the stimulus 
of gambling, but even that would afford him but a 
temporary respite. 

If I were fishing for men, and wanted to catch an 
Englishman, I would bait my hook with the "Times," 
and a bottle of "Brown Stout;" if for an Irishman, I 
should use a small bit of the "blarney stone," and a 
"drop of the crathur;" if for a Frenchman, the cus- 
tomary frog and a little "eau sucre ;" and for a Yan- 
kee I should put on a new copper cent and a "Congress 
penknife" for whittling; but if I wanted a "greaser," 
a cigarito, a pod of red pepper, and a tortilla would 
insure a bite at any stage of the tide. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Still on the Road — Inhuman Treatment — Wallace Uses His 
"Big Foot"to Advantage — Planning an Escape — Disappoint- 
ment — Monterey — The Tarántula — Change of Commanders, 
and OfT Again — Rinconada — Another Plan of Escape, and 
Another Disappointment — Arrival at Saltillo, and Our De- 
termination. 



I 



^JHE last chapter left us on the road to Mon- 
terey. One day's march was pretty much the 
counterpart of another, ending at night by our 
being driven into some corral or other enclosure, like 
so many cattle, where we were left to recruit our ex- 
hausted energies as best we might, without any pro- 
tection from the weather, and with barely enough 
food to keep us from an absolute state of starvation. 
On one occasion, while passing through a little village 
on the way, the customary crowd of men, oíd women, 
and boys flocked around us, shouting "death to the 
ladrones" (robbers), and u down with the heréticos" 
(heredes) . One little scamp, in the excitement of the 
moment, ventured within reach of my foot, which you 
see is a No. 12, and I gave him a kick which would 
have done credit to a vicious mulé, and of which, no 
doubt, he has a distinct recollection to this day. He 
went off howling like a full-grown cayote, but, fortu- 
nately for me, none of the guard noticed this little by- 
play, as otherwise I should certainly have been pun- 
ished for it with a thrust from a bayonet, or cut from 
a broadsword. 

When shivering around our miserable camp-fire at 
night, exposed to the cold winds or pitiless rains, we 



192 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



frequently debated among ourselves the possibility of 
surprising and capturing our guard, and, with the 
arms and ammunition we expected to secure in this 
way, of effecting our retreat into Texas before a suffi- 
cient forcé to retake us could be collected together. 
We at length agreed that the attempt should be made 
at a little place called Sacata, one day's march ahead 
of us, and where we expected to be quartered for the 
night. Captain Cameron was chosen for our leader in 
the perilous undertaking, and it was understood, when 
the propitious moment for the attack should come, 
that he was to notify us of the fact by the command 
"draw," the usual order given when we were formed 
in line to receive our rations. 

On our arrival at Sacata, we were turned into the 
corral as usual, and the guard took up their usual posi- 
tions on the outside around us. Our plan for the 
attack was all arranged, and late in the evening, when 
our rations were brought in, every one fixed his eyes 
upon Captain Cameron, momentarily expecting him 
to give the wished for signal, but when he stepped out 
and said, "Draw your rations first" the men con- 
cluded that something had gone wrong, and every one 
quietly kept his place. The rations were then distrib- 
uted to us, and the attack postponed for a time. 

I never understood what reason Captain Cameron 
had for giving up the attempt of surprising the guard 
at Sacata, but I have no doubt it was a good one, for 
he was as reckless of danger as any man that ever 
lived. 

The next day we continued our march, and at 
length, wearied and worn down with the fatigues and 
hardships of our tramp, we reached the city of Mon- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



193 



terey. A great crowd of persons, as usual, carne out 
to meet us as we approached, by whom we were 
escorted into the city, but though they evidently re- 
garded us as a species of wild cannibals, they treated 
us with more courtesy and respect than we had met 
with elsewhere, and on our arrival in the city we were 
at once conducted to our quarters. They were much 
more cleanly and comfortable than those that had 
been allotted to us in other places. Still they were not 
such quarters as one gets, for instance, at the St. 
Charles Hotel, in New Orleans. No sof as, no lounges, 
no chairs, no tables, ñor even a common stool to 
dignify with the ñame of furniture — nothing, in fact, 
but bare stone walls, marked and scribbled over with 
pieces of charcoal by former occupants of these luxu- 
rious abodes. 

Here one of our guard was bitten the first night of 
our arrival by a tarántula, a sort of large venomous 
spider, and although the Mexicans tried many kinds 
of "remedios" to relieve him, they all failed, and he 
died in a few hours. I can't say I lost much sleep from 
grief on account of his death, for he was a noted 
tyrant, and treated our men most cruelly whenever he 
could do so with impunity. Only a day or two before, 
I saw him cut one of our men severely with his sword, 
merely because he had loitered a moment behind the 
rest to tie his shoestring. On another occasion, when 
some of us were complaining of the scantiness of our 
fare, he went out and collected from the back-yard a 
quantity of oíd bones and other filthy offal, and return- 
ing, threw them on the ground before us, bidding us 
eat, as that was good enough for such abominable 
heretics as we were. Before he died, the priest was 



194 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



sent for to "confess" him, and if he only owned up to 
a tithe of the rascalities and crimes he had committed, 
I am sure the long list must have astonished even a 
Mexican padre. 

Monterey was the handsomest Mexican town we 
had yet seen. It is situated in a rich and fertile valley, 
watered by clear cold streams that take their rise in 
the adjacent mountains. 

In the suburbs I noticed a number of handsome 
private residences, with beautiful grounds and gar- 
dens attached, in which the orange, and the lemon, 
and the fig, and many other tropical fruits and plants 
were growing luxuriantly. The city seemed to be well 
fortified, and some years subsequently, when General 
Taylor attacked the place with his forces, I had the 
satisfaction of seeing them pretty well battered by our 
artillery. They would, no doubt, have been demol- 
ished if it had not been for that "same white flag" 
which the Mexicans always hoist when in a tight place, 
and with which they "bamboozled" General Taylor 
on that occasion in the same way they had so often 
done the Texans before him. 

We were much more kindly treated while in Mon- 
terey than we had been in Camargo, Matamoros, and 
other places on our route. We were indebted particu- 
larly to many of the foreign residents in the city, who 
took pity on our forlorn condition, and supplied us 
with provisions and such articles of clothing as we 
stood most in need of. Among our men there were 
a few Román Catholics, and we noticed, as a genera] 
thing, that they fared better and were allowed more 
privileges by the guard than the rest of us. Several 
sudden conversions to the Catholic creed were the 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



result of this, but I remained constant to my "heretical 
opinions;" for I did not think it right to assume the 
garb of religión for such purposes. 

Before leaving Monterey, to our great joy, Colonel 
Barragan, a kind and humane man, was placed in 
command of our guard, and the cowardly tyrant 
Canales assigned to some other duty. We remained 
in Monterey three or four days, and then took up the 
line of march once more — this time for Rinconada, a 
large hacienda about thirty miles distant, situated 
near the river San Juan. 

On the route, the question of attacking our guard 
was discussed, and we determined to make the attempt 
the first good opportunity that might present itself. 
We knew that the f arther we penetrated into the coun- 
try the poorer would be our chances of making our 
way back safely to Texas after we had eífected our 
liberation. 

On our arrival at Rinconada we were quartered in 
an oíd building, and our guard in two adjoining ones, 
one on each side. After supper, our project of attack- 
ing the guard was talked over again, and it was re- 
solved to carry it into execution at that place. The 
attack was to be made at daylight in the morning. 

At the appointed time we were all up and ready for 
the fray, but just then we heard the rolling of the 
Mexican drums, and, looking through the chinks in 
our quarters, discovered the whole Mexican forcé 
filing out from the rooms they had occupied, and in a 
few moments we were ordered to fall into line and 
prepare to march. 

There was no doubt in our minds that our plans had 
been divulged to the Mexicans by some one, but who 



196 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



it was we never knew to a certainty. What could have 
been his motive for betraying us it is hard to say, 
unless he thought by so doing he would secure better 
treatment from the Mexicans for himself. Had not 
our secret been divulged, it is more than probable we 
would have effected our intended surprise of the 
guard at Rinconada, from whence the chances are we 
could have made good our retreat into Texas, before 
a sufficient forcé of regular soldiers could have been 
collected to stop our advance. What a number of 
lives might have been saved, and what an amount of 
suffering avoided, if we had not been thus basely 
betrayed. 

We at length reached Saltillo, without anything of 
particular interest transpiring on the way. Saltillo is 
a city of considerable importance, containing, I sup- 
pose, some ten or twelve thousand inhabitants. Here 
our guard was considerably reinforced, which satis- 
fied us all the more that our intention of attacking 
them had been divulged by some one. 

We remained at Saltillo but a day or two, and then 
continued our route through a desoíate and barren 
country, toward the city of San Luis Potosi. Our 
guards were so wary and vigilant that we had no 
chance of surprising them, until we carne to Salado, 
a little place about one hundred and twenty-five or 
thirty miles from Saltillo, near which we were quar- 
tered for the night. We were confined in some oíd 
adobe buildings, and our guards, as usual, were posted 
in front of us. Here we were resolved to carry our 
plan of attack into operation, no matter what might 
be the result. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Successful Attack on the Mexican Guard — Bravery of Colonel 
Barragan — Retreat from Salado — Rapid Traveling — Bad 
Counsels — Suffering for Water — In Difficulties — 
Water at Last — The Horses Killed and Eaten. 



I 



^HE next morning about sunrise, observing that 
the guard had stacked their guns while engaged 
in cooking their breakfast, we held a hurried 
consultation as to what was best to be done, and pro 
ceeded at once to put it into execution. 

Our plan was for Captain Cameron to u raise the 
yell" when he thought the proper moment for the 
attack had arrived, and at this signal our men were 
to rush out suddenly, knock down the sentinels sta- 
tioned at the doors, and hasten to seize the guns that 
were stacked in front of the Mexican camps — all of 
which we hoped to accomplish before the Mexicans 
could recover from the disorder into which we thought 
the suddenness of our attack would throw them. 

Captain Cameron took his seat near the open door, 
for the purpose of watching the movements of the 
Mexicans, who were scattered about here and there, 
busily engaged in cooking their breakfast, and totally 
unsuspicious of our designs. We anxiously waited for 
the concerted signal from him, and when it was given 
a u yell was raised" that might have been heard for 
miles, and out we poured from our dens like a pack of 
ravenous wolves. In an instant, the sentinels who 
were stationed at the doors were knocked down and 
trampled under foot, and we dashed forward as rap- 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



idly as possible to where the guns were stacked. The 
Mexican soldiers made a rush for them at the same 
moment, and a fierce struggle took place for their 
possession. But the Americans generally had the ad- 
vantage over their foes in strength and weight, and 
the contest was of short duration. 

As soon as we had secured the guns, the Mexicans 
fled in the wildest confusión, leaving ten of their num- 
ber dead upon the ground. Our loss was five killed — 
Dr. Brennan, Fitzgerald, Rice, Lyons, and Haggerty ; 
wounded — Hancock, Captain Baker, Sansbury, Har- 
vey, and another, whose ñame I have now forgotten. 

Colonel Barragan made every elfort to rally his 
men after they were thrown into confusión by the 
suddenness of our attack. He exerted himself man- 
fully to retrieve the fortunes of the day, but without 
success, for the Mexican soldiers were thoroughly 
"stampeded," and nothing could stop their precipitate 
flight. At length he succeeded in rallying a small party 
of the fugitives, and with these he returned. Advanc- 
ing fearlessly up to our lines, he addressed himself to 
Captain Cameron, telling him that if we would surren» 
der ourselves to him, he pledged his word that we 
should be treated kindly, and not be punished for any- 
thing we had done. He said a good deal more to the 
same purpose, but we were deaf to all his arguments, 
and he finally rodé off and left us. 

Before Colonel Barragan left, in consideration of 
his bravery and of his kind and humane treatment 
when in command of our guard, Captain Cameron 
ordered his horse, sword, and other equipments, 
which we had captured, to be returned to him. Cap- 
tain Cameron then recommended our wounded men to 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



199 



his care, and he promised us he would take charge of 
them and protect them to the extent of his power, and 
this promise we afterward learned he faithfully kept. 
And I here take great pleasure in giving my testimony 
of the fact that this Colonel Barragan was a clever 
fellow and a gentleman, although he had the misfor- 
tune to be born a Mexican. He was another example 
of the truth of the oíd saying, that bravery is always 
an ingredient of a magnanimous disposition. The 
domineering, tyrannical man is generally, though not 
always, a coward at heart. I have seen but few ex- 
ceptions to the rule. 

We captured all the guns the Mexicans had, and 
ninety-seven horses and mules, and all their baggage 
and equipments. Having selected the best guns for 
our own use, we broke up the balance. I think I de- 
stroyed nearly a cart-load myself. I took an especial 
pleasure in demolishing the "scopets," remembering 
the kicking I got from one of them on a former 
occasion. 

After destroying the arms, and burning up all the 
tents and camp-equipage belonging to the guard, we 
put out from Salado with as little delay as possible, 
taking the road to Agua Nueva, and riding and walk- 
ing by turns, as we had only one animal for every two 
men. 

About midnight we stopped for a few moments at a 
"ranch" on the road, to get something to eat, and then 
continued our route and traveled until about sunrise 
the next morning, when we halted for several hours to 
rest ourselves and our jaded animáis, having made 
upward of seventy miles from Salado, our starting 
point. 



200 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



On the road we went at a full trot the whole time, 
those on foot keeping up with the horsemen at that 
gait until exhausted, when they would take their turn 
in riding. The Mexicans, who are hard travelers 
themselves, particularly when an enemy is behind 
them, could scarcely believe we made so great a dis- 
tance in such a short time, and under such circum- 
stances. Our object, of course, in making this forced 
march, was to get so far ahead on the road as to 
render it next to impossible for a Mexican forcé to 
pursue us with any chance of overtaking and recap- 
turing us ; and had we f ollowed the road f rom this on, 
as we ought to have done, there is every probability 
we would have succeeded in making our way back to 
Texas; but, as will be seen hereafter, rash counsels 
prevailed among our leaders, and we were persuaded 
to leave the high road and take our course through an 
unknown and barren country, in which neither food 
ñor water could be f ound. 

We remained but a short time at our halting place, 
and then took up the line of march again. After trav- 
eling some eighteen or twenty miles, we quit the road, 
and turning to the left, entered a deep ravine that ran 
up toward the mountains. Passing for some distance 
along this, we at length carne out upon an open plain, 
in which we discovered a ranch in the direction we 
were traveling. We hurried forward toward it, hop- 
ing to get a supply of water, but as we approached it 
more nearly, we saw that the housetops and windows 
were crowded with soldiers. We concluded it would 
be paying too dearly for a little water to storm such 
a strong position to obtain it, so we passed on. After 
crossing a spur of mountain we carne to a little pool 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



201 



of muddy water, from which we procured enough to 
quench our thirst. 

Some miles further on we carne to a ranch, and find- 
ing out from the people living there that we were con- 
siderably to the east of the course we wished to pur- 
sue, we turned more to the west and traveled on till 
night overtook us, when we encamped at the foot of 
a mountain. 

The next morning we were on the way again by 
sunrise, and after going some distance we carne to the 
road running to Monclova. This we followed for a 
few miles, when we met an Englishman (an oíd 
acquaintance of Captain Cameron), who advised us 
to go with him to a ranch he owned near by, where he 
told us he could furnish us with provisions, of which 
by this time we were nearly destitute. He urgently 
advised us not to leave the road and go oñ into the 
mountains, as the majority of our men and officers 
were in favor of doing, and told us there were no 
troops along the road to intercept us, and that if we 
abandoned it and turned oíf through the desoíate and 
mountainous country that lay in the direction we pro- 
posed traveling, we would inevitably perish for want 
of food and water. Well would it have been for us 
if we had done as this Englishman advised, for I am 
satisíied now that he was truly anxious to aid us in 
eíf ecting our escape into Texas ; but somehow the ma- 
jority of us carne to the conclusión that he was not to 
be trusted, and that he was merely seeking to delay us 
on the way until a sufficient forcé should have time to 
pursue and overtake us. So we declined accepting the 
f riendly off ers and advice of the Englishman, and con- 
tinued our route until late at night, when we carne to a 



202 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



little place called San Felipe, where we left the road 
and encamped at the foot of the mountains. 

The next morning, we continued our course over 
the dreary-looking mountains that rose up before us, 
and their barren and desoíate appearance disheart- 
ened even those who had been the warmest advocates 
for seeking the protection of their solitudes. All day 
long we toiled through this sterile región, until night 
overtook us again, when we encamped at the bottom 
of a "barranca" or deep canon. 

Several times during the day our progress was im- 
peded by deep gulches and almost perpendicular walls 
of rock, through and up which we found it nearly im- 
possible to forcé our jaded and broken-down hacks. 
Not a single drop of water had been seen upon the 
whole route, and, thirsty and dispirited, we wrapped 
our scanty covering around us and lay down upon the 
cold ground, and endeavored to forget our troubles 
in sleep. 

Some time during the night, a small party, that had 
been sent in advance of the main body to reconnoitre, 
carne into camp and reported an abundance of water 
within two or three miles of us. This was joyful news 
to us, and all hands were at once roused up, and with- 
out attempting to preserve any order in our line of 
march, we stumbled along in the darkness among the 
gulches and ravines, each one for himself, until we all 
safely reached the desired locality, and, after slaking 
our thirst with hearty draughts of the grateful fluid, 
we lay down once more and slept soundly until morn- 
ing. We then went back to our first halting-place, 
gathered up our half-starved, broken-down horses, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



203 



and such of our equipments as had been left behind, 
and returned with them to our "water-hole." 

Here we concluded to remain and recruit ourselves 
for the balance of the day, and as it was deemed im- 
possible to take our poor jaded hacks any farther 
through the rugged and mountainous country ahead 
of us, and as there was not a blade of grass in all that 
barren región, we determined, as a matter of hu- 
maníty, to kill them all, and thus save them from the 
miseries of a prolonged death from starvation. This 
we proceeded at once to do, cutting the throats of the 
poor animáis with our butcher-knives, in order to save 
our ammunition, of which we had but a limited quan- 
tity. This was a job I didn't fancy at all, and when I 
carne to cut the throat of the wretched "Rosinante" 
that had borne my comrade and myself so faithfully 
and well ever since our escape from the guard, he 
looked at me so knowingly and pleadingly out of his 
sunken, hollow eyes, that my heart failed me entirely, 
and my comrade, who was not so "squeamish," had 
to play the part of executioner. 

When the horses had all been killed, we selected a 
few of them that were in the best condition (and a 
decent Mexican buzzard would have disdained to 
whet his bilí upon any one of them) , skinned and cut 
them into small strips, which we "jerked" over fires 
made of a sort of weed, the only fuel to be found in 
many places in these barren mountains. When we had 
prepared as much of the meat in this way as the men 
could conveniently carry in their knapsacks, it was 
divided out among them, and at daylight the next 
morning we were again on the march. 



204 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



Little did we think, when we left this camp, that we 
had tasted the last drop of water that was to moisten 
our parched lips for six weary days and nights ; but so 
it was. Oh, those wretched, wretched days and nights ! 
I shall never forget them as long as I live. After toil- 
ing all day over broken, barren, rugged mountains, 
suffering the agonies of torturing, excruciating thirst, 
we laid down at night upon our hard rocky beds, to 
dream in broken and disturbed slumbers of bubbling 
springs and rippling brooks, which somehow always 
mysteriously disappeared when we were just in the 
act of quaffing their sparkling waters. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



A Dreary Prospect — No Water — Dying by theWayside — Hun- 
ger and Thirst — Dreaming of Water — Hopes and Disap- 
pointments — Captured by the Mexicans — Water at Last — 
Wretched Condition of the Survivors. 

ITH much difficulty, even on foot, we at 
length forced our way up the almost per- 
pendicular walls of the mountain that rose 
up in the direction we proposed traveling. When, at 
length, we had reached the top, we were appalled by 
the dreary prospect that presented itself to our view. 
Behind us lay the dismal valley from which we had 
just emerged, over the surface of which, scattered 
here and there as they had fallen, lay the dead car- 
casses of our animáis, looking like little specks in the 
distance; and the thin columns of smoke, rising up 
from some smouldering fires we had left burning, and 
the naked rocky hills that encircled it, gave it a re- 
markable resemblance to the cráter of some slumber- 
ing volcano. Before us, as far as the eye could reach, 
mountain after mountain, rose up, rough, rugged and 
broken, and the total absence of everything like vege- 
tation too surely indicated that no water was to be 
found in the parched-up valleys that lay between 
them ; and over all this dismal prospect a burning sun 
poured down its scorching rays from a cloudless sky, 
with an intensity that greatly aggravated the thirst 
from which we had already begun to suífer exces- 
sively, before the toils of this weary day had ended. 
We were much depressed in spirits by the barren 




206 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



and desoíate appearance of the country ahead of us; 
still there was no alternative but to go forward, for 
we knew if we retraced our steps we would inevitably 
be recaptured by our vigilant foes, and anything, we 
thought, was preferable to that. And so we went on 
all through that weary day, up one rugged, rocky 
mountain, and down, and up another, still hoping and 
trusting that in some of the ravines or cañons that lay 
between them (for they could not be called valleys), 
we would, at length, come across a stream or pool of 
water sufficient to slake our thirst. But everywhere 
we were continually disappointed. No murmuring 
streams rippled over the sandy beds of the gulches 
and cañons we passed — all were parched up, and as 
dry as if a drop of rain had not fallen in that dreary 
región since the days of the Flood. And thus we 
struggled on till darkness closed over the scene, when, 
abandoning all hope of finding water that day, we en- 
camped for the night among the broken rocks and 
debris at the bottom of a deep canon. . 

In the morning, dispirited and unrefreshed by our 
comfortless bivouac in the cañón, we again took our 
toilsome way over gulches and ravines, and up and 
down the steep and scraggy sides of the mountains, 
that everywhere impeded our progress. And thus we 
staggered on for several days in succession, through 
this desoíate wilderness, still hoping for, but never 
finding, the cooling stream or pool of water, in which 
we longed to slake the intolerable agonies of thirst 
that was consuming our very vitáis. 

On the morning of the fifth day we made an early 
start, in order to get over as much ground as possible 
before the sun should acquire its full power. But, by 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



207 



the time it had risen above the tops of the mountains 
to the eastward of us, the suffering of the men became 
so intolerable that many of them, to relieve them- 
selves of all superfluous weight, threw away their guns 
and equipments, and what remained of their rations 
of jerked meat — for hunger was not felt or feared — 
our whole craving was for water! water! Many of 
the men gave out entirely, and laid down on the way- 
side to die, but no one paid any attention to them, for 
great suffering, such as we were enduring, is apt to 
render men callous and unfeeling toward each other. 
Still the rest of us struggled on, hoping that our 
strength might hold out until we carne to water; but 
we toiled up one rugged, barren mountain, only to see 
another as rugged and barren rise up before us. 

The way appeared interminable, and no change of 
scenery varied the tiresome monotony, or gave us any 
indication of our approach to the long-wished-for 
stream or pool of water. Not a tree ñor a sprig of 
grass was to be seen anywhere. Nothing like vegeta- 
tion, except in a few localities, where a species of leaf- 
less, withered weed managed, in some way, to draw a 
precarious sustenance from the parched and gravelly 
soil. All was barren, desoíate, and scorched up by the 
long-continued drought that had prevailed in that 
country. Not a living animal was to be seen, ñor was 
the song of a bird, or even the chirping of a cricket 
ever heard during all our wandering in this wilder- 
ness which might appropriately have been termed any- 
thing but "howling;" for even a "cayote" could not, 
by any possibility, have existed there for many days. 
Night at length overtook us again, and, worn out, 
despairing, and suffering indescribable tortures from 



208 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



thirst, we threw ourselves upon the ground to pass 
away, as best we might, the wretched hours till 
morning. 

All night long I could hear the men moaning in 
their uneasy slumbers, and crying out for water ! 
water ! I had heard that by chewing a leaden bullet 
thirst could be partially alleviated, and I tried it upon 
this occasion, but without success. It may afford some 
relief when the thirst is not excessive, but in the ex- 
tremity to which we were reduced for the want of 
water, it did not seem to have the least effect. 

The suffering caused by hunger is not comparable 
to that resulting from long-continued thirst. I had 
rather starve a week than go two days without water 
in warm weather, especially when compelled to travel 
on foot. Hunger comes by "fits and starts." There 
are intervals, even after starving for days, when one 
is comparatively free from pain or suffering, and in 
sleep one can occasionally find temporary relief from 
its pangs. But with thirst it is very different. There 
is not a moment's cessation of the suffering, but, on the 
contrary, it increases regularly in intensity, until the 
tongue becomes black and swollen and protrudes from 
the mouth, and the eyes, bloodshot and bleared, seem 
as if they are about to start from their sockets. Even 
sleep affords no respite whatever from this terrible 
anguish. Horrible shapes gibber and moan around 
the wretched slumberer, and frighten him away from 
the gushing spring or rippling brook, that forever 
haunts his mind, waking or sleeping. 

One spring in particular haunted me in my dreams 
— one that I had often frequented in my boyhood's 
days, in one of the gorges of the Blue Ridge in Vir- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



209 



ginia. It poured out from the mouth of a small cave, 
at the f oot of a high bluff, in a bold rivulet larger than 
my arm, which ran off through an oíd mossy trough 
six or eight feet long to the edge of a ravine, down 
which it pattered and splashed with a musical sound 
very agreeable to the ear of the passer-by on a hot 
summer's day. During my disturbed slumbers that 
night, if I attempted to take a drink at that spring 
once, I tried it a thousand times, but something always 
prevented me, just as I was on the eve of placing my 
parched lips to the mossy spout. 

In 18 — , many years after this, when I went back 
to "Oíd Virginia" to see my relatives, I visited this 
spring again, and there it was, still pattering and 
splashing down into the ravine below, just as I had 
seen it so often in imagination during my wanderings 
in the mountains of México ; and I took a last drink 
from the mossy spout, though I was not in the least 
thirsty, just for oíd acquaintance's sake. 

On the morning of the seventh day after our en- 
trance into these dismal solitudes, we resumed our 
cheerless march again, or rather, I should say, those 
of us that still remained together under the leadership 
of Captain Cameron ; for by this time many had fallen 
by the way from exhaustion, and others singly or in 
small squads had wandered off in various directions 
in their search for water. Mechanically as it were, 
and scarcely knowing or caring whither we went, we 
crawled up the side of the sterile mountain ahead of 
us, frequently pausing on the way to recover our 
breath and strength. At last, when with much labor 
we had gained the top of the mountain, a joyful pros- 
pect presented itself to our view, and instilled new life 



210 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



and vigor into our worn-down frames. Below us lay 
an extensive valley, covered in places with thick chap- 
arral, and in others with clumps and groves of trees, 
indicating certainly, as we thought, the proximity of 
water. 

Resting for a few moments, we hastened down the 
mountain as rapidly as we could, toward this u land of 
promise," but the distance to it, and the difficulties of 
the way were much greater than we had at first sup- 
posed, and the day was pretty well advanced before 
we reached the level plain. But even then, in vain did 
we search every gully and ravine for the long-wished- 
for element. Not one drop of water could we find. 
Some of the stoutest and strongest men now "gave in" 
entirely, and dropped down by the way, either ex- 
hausted by the fatigue they had undergone, or else 
utterly overeóme by the sufferings they endured from 
the intense thirst that preyed upon them. Others wan- 
dered off into the dense "chaparral" in their frantic 
search for water, and were lost. 

When the sun went down, on this wretched day, 
only fifty or sixty men still dragged their weary limbs 
after our gallant leader, Captain Cameron, of which 
remnant I was one. But so terrible were our agonies 
from the internal fires that consumed our vitáis, that 
we never thought of halting as usual when night over- 
took us, but staggered on, like drunken men, scarcely 
conscious of what we were doing. Some wandered in 
their minds, and prayed, or cursed, or sang, as their 
different dispositions prompted. 

I noticed one poor fellow, as he stumbled along in 
the dark over the stones and bushes that beset our 
path, cheerily singing, in a very faint voice, "And 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



211 



who'll be king but Charlie." He was as crazy as a 
bed-bug, of course. 

About 10 o'clock at night, we discovered some fires 
burn-ing ahead of us, and supposed that they were the 
signal fires of some one of our straggling parties, to 
let us know that water had been f ound. We pushed on 
toward them as fast as we could, and scarcely had the 
foremost men reached them, when a large Mexican 
forcé rose up on all sides of us, and enclosed us in 
their lines. 

No attempt at resistance was made ; indeed, we 
would have been utterly incapable of anything of the 
sort, even if we had been armed, but as well as I re- 
member now not more than ten or a dozen of our men 
still carried their muskets with them — the rest having 
thrown them away while in the mountains. The 
Mexicans seized us at once, tied us in pairs together, 
and laid us on the ground. We begged and implored 
them, in the most piteous terms, to give us some 
water, and they measured out from the gourds they 
had brought along with them a very small drink for 
each one of us, not venturing to trust them in our 
hands for fear we should take too much at one time. 
Though not the twentieth part of what would have 
been sufficient to quench our thirst, I shall never for- 
get as long as I live the delicious taste and coolness 
of that drink of water ! If you want to know what that 
"néctar" is which is said to be imbibed by the gods 
alone, travel for six days under a burning sun, without 
a drop of water to cool your "coppers," and then take 
a long "swig" at a Mexican gourd, filled to the brim 
with the puré element. Then, and not till then, can 



212 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



you fully appreciate its great superiority over all 
other drinks. 

At early dawn the next morning, the Mexicans un- 
tíed us, and we all started for the nearest water. 
From the place where the Mexicans recaptured us, as 
well as I remember, it was fifteen or twenty miles 
distant, and without their guidance and assistance we 
could never have made half the distance, even if we 
had known in what direction to travel. But such of us 
as were the weakest and least able to walk were 
mounted on horseback, and in this way we reached 
the "water-hole" by 12 or i o'clock in the day. On 
the route, the Mexicans gave us two or three times a 
small drink of water from the gourds they had 
brought along with them, but this only seemed to ag- 
gravate our thirst the more, though I have no doubt 
it was better for us than it would have been if we had 
been supplied with all we wanted at one time. I am 
inclined to think so from the fact that, soon after we 
were recaptured by the Mexicans, one of them care- 
lessly left his gourd, filled with water, within reach 
of one of our men, who instantly snatched it up and 
drained it dry before he took it from his lips. He was 
seized with terrible pains a little while afterward, and 
for several hours we thought he would die; but he 
eventually recovered. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



Encampment at the Water-Hole — Wretched Appearance of 
the Men — March Back to Saltillo — Mexican Vermin — How 
Wallace Was Dressed — Mexican Vegetation — The Tiger 
Thorn — Conflicting Rumors. 



w: 



HEN . at length we carne to the water 
(which was contaíned in a sort of artificial 
tank or reservoir) , we were led down to it 
under guard, and only permitted to drink for a few 
moments ; but before they succeeded in "horning me 
off," I am confident I secured at least a gallón "under 
my belt." But I experienced no bad results from hav- 
ing drank so freely ; on the contrary, my strength was 
rapidly restored to me from that moment. 

Here we found encamped the main body of the 
Mexican cavalry that had been sent in pursuit of us. 
The wretched appearance we presented seemed to 
touch, to some extent, even the callous hearts of our 
enemies, and with the exception of again tying us to- 
gether in pairs, they offered us no indignity. In truth, 
we were as woe-begone a looking set of "scarecrows" 
as were ever congregated together, I suppose, at one 
time. Some were without hats, some without shoes, 
and one could scarcely tell from the shreds of clothing 
that still hung about us to what garments they origi- 
nally belonged. 

I noticed one fellow who was hatless, and with but 
one shoe on, with one leg of his pantaloons torn en- 
tirely olí, and nothing left of his coat except the collar 
and sleeves, and a few little strips of the lining still 



214 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



dangling behind his back. Our beards were rough and 
unshaven, and our matted and uncombed locks hung 
down in "swads" around our faces, pinched and 
sharpened by long abstinence from food and water, 
f rom out of which our sunken hollow eyes glared with 
a wild and demoniac expression not at all pleasant or 
assuring to the beholder. 

We remained at this tank, or water-hole, for three 
days, during which time most of the men that had 
wandered oíf from us in the mountains, singly or in 
squads, were hunted up by the Mexicans and brought 
into camp. Only thirteen, I think, were missing, and 
as nothing was ever afterward heard from them, it is 
reasonable to suppose they ultimately perished from 
thirst, and no doubt their bones are bleaching to this 
day in some of the dreary gulches and ravines of those 
inhospitable mountains, from which we had made 
such a narrow escape ourselves. 

Early on the morning of the fourth day, we were 
told by our guard to prepare for the march, and in a 
few moments they started oíf with us on the road 
toward Saltillo. 

To prevent all chance of another "uprising' on our 
part, of which they seemed to be continually in dread, 
they tied our hands securely behind us with raw-hide 
thongs, and thus "hampered" we had to march all the 
way back to Saltillo. 

I never knew bef ore how necessary a f ree use of the 
arms was, to enable one to walk with ease and celerity. 
A twenty miles' march, with our arms pinioned down 
in this way, fatigued us as much as twice the distance 
would have done if they had been unfettered. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



215 



We were several days on the road, during which 
time nothing of interest that I remember now oc- 
curred. On our arrival at Saltillo, we were taken 
again to our oíd quarters, in which we were once more 
securely fastened up and closely guarded. I had been 
but a day or so in these dirty barracks when I fully 
appreciated the extent of the misfortune I had met 
with in the loss of my fine-tooth comb. 

And here I may as well say to over-sensitive 
readers, that perhaps it would be as well for them to 
skip to the bottom of this chapter, as it is not my wish 
or intention to say anything oífensive to "ears polite ;" 
but I have started out with the determination of tell- 
ing my story my own way, and I must do it, or aban- 
don the attempt altogether. With this fair warning, 
I shall resume the story of what I endured from the 
loss of my fine-tooth comb. 

Vermin swarmed in countless numbers in the miser- 
able quarters in which we were confined. Even the 
bare floors at times were thickly covered with them. 
Our Mexican guard did not seem to mind them much ; 
in fact, I rather think they liked them, and that, in 
some way or other, they were absolutely necessary to 
their health and comfort. I verily believe, if one of 
them had been suddenly freed from all sorts of the 
vermin with which they were infested, that he would 
not have slept soundly for a week afterward. They 
never use a comb, and of course it is only the larger 
and overgrown fellows they succeed in capturing by 
the primitive method of "looking each other's heads." 
These they "crack" between their teeth, apparently 
with much gusto and relish, by way, I suppose, of 
retaliation — "bite for bite." 



2l6 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



For want of a comb myself, I was compelled to 
have my hair cut off short and permit my finger nails 
to grow untrimmed. With these I became so expert, 
after long practice, that I could rake out a fellow 
above a certain size with unerring certainty, whenever 
by biting or crawling he designated sufficiently his 
exact locality. By this primitive method, I kept myself 
pretty well rid of all the full-grown chaps, but the 
"small fry" dodged the question entirely, and unfor- 
tunately it is the nature of the "brute" to commence 
the propagation of his species the moment he is 
hatched. Often when a fellow, by hard raking,and 
combing, if lucky enough to be the possessor of a fine- 
tooth comb, has come to the conclusión that at last he 
has entirely freed his head from these disgusting occu- 
pants, he wakes up the next morning to find it as 
densely populated as ever. I speak advisedly on this 
subject, for I had many opportunities, while impris- 
oned in México, of studying the "habits and customs" 
of all kinds of "vermin." 

The evil was aggravated by our want of a change 
of clothing and the scanty supply of water furnished 
us for our ablutions. As for myself, I had worn from 
necessity the same suit of clothes I had on when we 
made our escape from the guard, and after traveling 
in them all this time over dusty roads, and sleeping 
in them at night upon the ground, it can easily be im- 
agined that my costume was not exactly a suitable one 
for a ball-room or a fashionable assembly. But little 
was left of my shirt. My hat had long since gone by 
the board, and in place of it my head was partially 
protected from the sun by a red cotton handkerchief, 
wrapped around it somewhat in the fashion of a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



217 



Turkish turban. I had but one shoe left, which was 
in a very dilapidated condition, and in lieu of the 
other a raw-hide sandal was strapped on my foot 
with leathern thongs. My coat was tattered and torn 
by thorns, and like Joseph's, from frequent mending 
with all sorts of materials, was of many colors, but 
the dirt or drab color predominated over all. It is 
impossible to describe the remnant of my pantaloons. 
They hung upon me in shreds that were inextricably 
bound together by thongs and strings, and upheld by 
a system of "tackling" as complicated as that of a 
seventy-four gun ship, to compare small things with 
great; and from out of these habiliments a counte- 
nance presented itself that had been guiltless of a 
thorough cleansing for — I am ashamed to say how 
long. "Such a beauty I did grow !" If my oíd sweet- 
heart, Jenny Foster, could have seen me then, I am 
sure her heart would have relented, and that she 
would have reversed that cruel decisión that sent me 
"packing off" to Texas some years before. 

Everything that grows in México,* or at least in that 
portion of it in which I had traveled, has thorns upon 
it, which will account satisfactorily for the dilapida- 
tion of my clothing in such a short space of time. 
Even the very grass has thorns or spurs upon it, as we 
frequently found to our cost, whenever, forgetful of 
the fact, we seated ourselves upon it for a moment's 
rest or repose. I remember once seeing a shrub in 
México which at a little distance appeared to be cov- 
ered with dense green foliage, but upon a nearer ap- 
proach I discovered that it was leafless, and simply a 
mass of thorns, thorns growing out of thorns. 



218 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



The prickly pear, or cactus, the varieties of which 
comprise three-fifths of the vegetable kingdom in that 
part of México, are all armed with spears, pikes, and 
thorns, of all lengths and sizes, from the minute 
prickle, so small that it is impossible to ascertain its 
locality when fixed in the flesh, except by the irritation 
it causes, to pikes and spears long enough for a buffalo 
to impale himself upon. 

Everything in this wretched country seems to be 
constituted for a state of continual warfare, as if 
nature herself sympathized in some way with the nor- 
mal political condition of its inhabitants. The cattle 
have the longest horns; the snakes all have fangs; 
every insect you touch stings or bites you, or both at 
the same time; and, as I have said before, the trees, 
shrubs, and grasses are all thorny : even the f rogs and 
toads, so soft, moist and flabby in other countries, are 
here protected by hard, dry, scaly hides, and horns 
upon the head. 

There was one species of shrub, with long, crooked, 
cat-like talons, which was dubbed by our men the 
"tiger thorn," from the fact that its slender elastic 
branches were frequently held in a constrained posi- 
tion by the twigs and foliage of other shrubs, and 
when loosened by the passer-by, they would spfing up 
voluntarily, as it seemed, and seize him with their 
crooked claws, very much as the tiger springs from 
the jungle and seizes upon its prey. I have left many 
a rag fluttering in the breeze upon the branches of this 
terrible "tiger thorn," proud trophies of the numer- 
ous contests we had had, and showing that I had 
always retreated from the field with the loss of part 
of my baggage and equipments. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



219 



We remained at Saltillo several weeks, awaiting, it 
was said, orders from Santa Ana, the President of 
México, as to our further disposition. During this 
time many and conflicting rumors reached our ears 
as to what was to be our ultímate f ate. For some days 
it was generally believed that we were to be sent on to 
the City of México, where we were to be immediately 
released or paroled and shipped back home by the 
way of New Orleans. Then again it was reported 
among us, that a dispatch had been received from 
Santa Ana ordering the immediate execution of every 
one of us, but that General Mexier had refused to 
carry out the barbarous mándate. 

I am inclined to think there must have been some 
truth in this report, as General Mexier, before we left 
Saltillo, resigned his joint commission of Comman- 
dante and Governor of the State. Besides, I learned 
afterward, when a prisoner in the City of México, 
that all the foreign ministers resident there, as soon 
as they heard of this order, remonstrated against it 
as barbarous and inhuman, and Santa Ana revoked 
the order, substituting in its place the one requiring 
the "decimation" or execution of every tenth man. 
We had no intimation, however, that any of these 
orders had been actually passed until both of the 
latter were read to us subsequently at Rancho Salado, 
where the "decimation" took place. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



Sudden Change of Quarters — Rancho Salado Once More — 
Brutal Order — The Drawing of the Beans — "Dip Deep, 
Boys" — The Baboon-faced Mexican Officer — Indifference of 
the Men — The One Exception — Wallace Draws a White 
Bean — "Ould Ireland Forever" — Speedy Execution — A 
Miraculous Escape and Subsequent Death. 

A FTER our long sojourn at Saltillo, we were 
/=\ one morning roused up by our guard, and 
-¿L JX-told to get ready to march, as we were to 
start that day to the City of México. A few moments 
afterward the guard paraded in front of our quarters. 
We were taken out and f ormed into line, and marched 
oíf on the road back toward Rancho Salado, where, 
some weeks previously, we had risen upon and sur- 
prised the guard under the command of Colonel Bar- 
ragan. Handcuífed and bound together in pairs, to 
cut off all chance of our escaping or making another 
attack upon the guard, we were driven along the road 
at a gait that would have been "killing" even to men 
that were not fettered as we were. 

On the evening of the fourth day, I think it was, 
after leaving Saltillo, we carne in sight, once more, of 
the lonely, desoíate Rancho Salado. The officer now 
in command of the guard, Colonel Ortez, had spoken 
kindly to us frequently during the day, telling us to 
"be cheerful and walk up fast, for that the sooner we 
arrived at the City of México, the sooner we would 
be liberated and sent back home." Notwithstanding 
these assurances, from the íirst moment the men 
caught sight of the dismal oíd ranch, whether it was 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



221 



the dreariness of the locality, or the recollection of 
what had happened there when we rose on the guard, 
and of the sufferings and disasters that followed in 
the wake of that event, or whether it was some dim 
foreboding of the "bloody scene" that was to be en- 
acted there again so soon, that weighed upon the 
minds of the men, I know not; but not a word was 
uttered by any one, as we trudged along silent and 
depressed, until we reached the hated spot, and were 
once more securely f astened up in the same corral we 
had occupied before. 

But a few moments elapsed before an officer, ac- 
companied by an interpreter, entered the corral, and 
calling our attention, proceeded to read to us from a 
paper he held in his hand, a mándate from the "Su- 
preme Government of México," ordering the instant 
execution of every tenth man. Some of the more san- 
guine among us fully thought that the paper contained 
an order for our reléase, and eagerly crowded around 
the interpreter to hear the joyful news; but when the 
purport of the writing was explained to us by the inter- 
preter, this barbarous decimation of our number carne 
upon us so unexpectedly that we stood for a moment 
stunned and confused by the suddenness of the shock. 
Then a reaction took place, and if our hands had only 
been unshackled, unarmed as we were, the oíd Rancho 
Salado would have witnessed another up-rising, ten 
times as bloody as the íirst; but when we looked upon 
our manacled limbs, and the serried ranks and glitter- 
ing bayonets of the large guard drawn up around us, 
we saw at once that any attempt at resistance would 
be utter folly, and we quietly submitted to our fate. 



222 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



It was determined that the seventeen men to be 
executed should be selected by lottery, and in a little 
while a squad of Mexican officers carne into the corral, 
preceded by a soldier bearing an earthen vessel, which 
he placed upon a low stone wall bounding the farther 
side of the corral, and which was intended to hold a 
number of white and black beans, corresponding to 
the number of men and officers in our command. The 
Mexican officers stationed themselves near the 
earthen pot, to overlook and superintend the lottery, 
and see that every one had a fair chance for his life. 
One of them then proceeded to count out so many 
white beans, which he poured into the vessel, and then 
dropped in the fatal seventeen black ones on top of 
them, covering the whole with a thick napkin or cloth. 
We were then formed into line and drawn up in front 
of the low wall on which the earthen pot had been 
placed. 

Before the drawing began, they informed us that if 
any man drew out more than one bean, and either of 
them should prove a black one, he would be regarded 
as having drawn a black one solely, and be shot ac- 
cordingly. 

Our commissioned officers were ordered to draw 
first. Captain Cameron stepped forward, and with- 
out the slightest visible trepidation put his hand under 
the cloth and drew out a white bean. He had ob- 
served, when the Mexican officer put the beans in the 
pot, that he poured the white in first and the black 
ones on top of them, and then set it down without 
shaking, possibly with the intention of forcing as large 
a number as possible of the black beans upon our com- 
missioned officers, who were to have the first drawing. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



225 



When he returned to his place in the line, he whis- 
pered to those nearest him, u Dip deep, boys," and by 
following his advíce all the officers drew white beans 
except Captain Eastland. 

After the officers had all drawn, the "muster-rolls" 
of the men were produced, and we were called for- 
ward as our ñames appeared upon them. Some of the 
Mexican officers present were evidently much affected 
by the courage and nonchalance manifested by the 
men in this fiery trial; others, on the contrary, seemed 
to enjoy the whole proceedings hugely, particularly 
one little swarthy baboon-visaged chap, that looked 
as if he had subsisted all his life on a short allowance 
of red pepper and cigaritos. He appeared to take an 
especial delight in the hesitation of some of the men 
when they put their hands into the vessel, for even the 
bravest felt some reluctance to draw when he knew 
that life or certain death depended upon the color of 
the bean he might select. Whenever there was the 
slightest hesitation, this officer would say, in appar- 
ently the most commisserating tone : "Take your 
time, mi niño (my child) ; don't hurry yourself, mi 
muchaco (my boy) ; be careful, mi pobrecito (poor 
fellow) ; you know if you get a black bean you will be 
taken out and shot in ten minutes" — a fact we had 
already been fully apprised of. 

u Ah! that's unfortunate," he would say, when a 
poor fellow drew a black bean; u but better luck to 
you the next time." 

Yet, all the while he was talking in this way, in the 
kindest accents, a devilish grin on his baboon-face 
indicated the great pleasure he took in the anxiety and 
distress of these "poor fellows." 



226 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



I am not of a revengeful disposition, but if that 
Mexican had ever fallen into my power, his chances 
of living to a "good oíd age" would have been miser- 
ably slim, and I could have recognized him among ten 
thousand, for his weazen features and his diabolical 
grin were indelibly impressed upon my memory. 1*11 
tell you how I would have served him. I would have 
bought a bushel of black beans, cooked them about 
half done in a big pot, and made him sit down upon it 
and eat until he bursted. I'd have given him a dose 
that would have stretched his little tawny hide as 
tight as a bass-drum. He should have had his fill of 
black beans for once, to a certainty. 

Those who drew black beans seemed to care very 
little about it. Occasionally one would remark, as he 
drew out the fatal color, "Well, boys, the jig is up 
with me;" or, "They have taken my sign in at last;" 
or something of a similar character, and then give 
way to the next, apparently as unconcerned as if he 
had no interest whatever in what was going on 
around him. 

There was but a single exception to this. One poor 
fellow, a messmate of mine, too, appeared to be com- 
pletely overeóme by his apprehensions of drawing a 
black bean. He stood until his own time to draw carne 
round, wringing his hands and moaning audibly, and 
continually telling those near him that he knew he 
should draw a black bean; that he had a presentiment 
such would be his fate. When his turn carne, he hung 
back, and absolutely refused to go up at all until a file 
of Mexican soldiers forced him forward at the points 
of their bayonets. He hesitated so long after he put 
his hand into the vessel containing the beans that a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



227 



Mexican officer near him pricked him severely with 
his sword to make him withdraw it. All this, of course, 
was immensely gratifying to the little baboon-faced 
official, who "ninoed" and "pobrecitoed" him in his 
kindest tones, all the while, though, evidently snicker- 
ing and laughing in his sleeve at the fears exhibited by 
the "pobrecito." 

At last the poor fellow was forced to withdraw his 
hand, and his presentiment proved too true, for in it 
he held the fatal black bean. He turned deadly palé 
as his eyes rested upon it, but apparently he soon re- 
signed himself to his inevitable fate, for he never 
uttered a word of complaint afterward. I pitied him 
from the bottom of my heart. 

My ñame beginning with W, was, of course, among 
the last on the roll, and when it carne to my turn to 
draw, so many more white beans than black had been 
drawn out in proportion, that there could have been 
no great diíference in the number of each. I observed 
twenty-four white beans drawn out in succession. The 
chances of life and death for me were, therefore, not 
so very unequal. I will frankly confess, when I put 
my hand into the pot and this fact recurred to my 
mind, a spasm of fear or dread sent a momentary chill 
to my heart, but I mastered it quickly, and before even 
the lynx-eye of the little baboon-faced official detected 
any sign of such weakness. At any rate, he bestowed 
none of his endearing epithets upon me. 

All the time the drawing had been going on I stood 
pretty cióse to the scene of operations, and I thought 
I could perceive a slight diíference in the size of the 
black and white beans — that the former were a shade 
larger than the latter. This diíference, I know, may 



228 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



have been purely imaginary, but at any rate, I was 
eventually decided by it in my choice of a bean. 

When I first put my hand in the pot I took up sev- 
eral beans at once in my fingers, and endeavored to 
distinguish their color by the touch, but they all felt 
precisely alike. I then dropped them and picked up 
two more, and after fingering them carefully for an 
instant, I thought that one of them seemed a little 
larger than the other. I dropped that one like a hot 
potato, and drew out the one left. It was a white one, 
of course, or I should not now be here to tell my story 
— but not a very white one, and when I cast my eyes 
upon it, it looked to me as "black as the ace of spades." 

I felt certain for a moment that my f ate was sealed, 
but when I handed it to the Mexican officer who re- 
ceived them as they were drawn out, I saw that he put 
it on the wall with the white beans, and not into his 
waistcoat pocket, as he had done the black ones. I 
knew then that I was safe, and the revulsión of feeling 
was so great and rapid that I can compare it to noth- 
ing except the sudden lifting of an immense weight 
from off one's shoulders. I felt as light as a feather, 
though I weighed at least one hundred and seventy 
pounds net (after all my hardship and starvation), 
exclusive of the remnant of clothing I had on me. 

Among the last to draw was an Irishman, by the 
ñame of W — , a fellow noted for his wit and humor, 
as well as for his reckless, dare-devil character. He 
put his hand into the pot, and feeling around, discov- 
ered that there were but few beans left in it. 

"Arrah now, my hinnies !" he said, "and is this the 
way you would thry to desave an innocent man to his 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



229 



destruction ? Faith, and there's not a dozen beans left 
in the pot, and PM not draw one at all." 

He was peremptorily ordered to take one out im- 
mediately. 

"Oh, it's for murtherin' me ye are, ye bloody spal- 
peens," said Pat, "widout judge or jury. I see that as 
plain as the nose on my face. Yees let the ither men 
pick and choose as it suited 'em, out of scores of beans, 
and now there isn't a dozen left in the pot, and Tve no 
choice scarcely at all. Divil take such a lotthery, say I. 
But I suppose there's no help for it, so here goes." 

And Pat drew forth his bean, and everybody, even 
the Mexican officers themselves, I believe, were re- 
joiced when it proved to be a white one. 

'There, you bloody nagurs," said Pat, handing the 
bean to the officer, "it was a black one, but I oífered up 
a short prayer to Saint Pathrick, you see, and in the 
twinkling of an eye, he convarted it into a white one ! 
Hooray for Saint Pathrick and Ould Ireland for- 
ever." 

When the drawing was completed, the white and 
black beans were carefully counted over again, and 
the number found to tally with that of the men. Those 
that had drawn black beans were kept sepárate from 
the rest of us, and, in a few moments after the draw- 
ing was concluded, they were marched off in two 
squads, and shortly afterward repeated volleys of 
musketry were heard, and we knew that their cares 
and troubles were forever ended in this world. 

One of them, however, a man by the ñame of Shep- 
perd, as we learned subsequently, made a most miracu- 
lous escape for the time being. When they were fired 
upon by the guard, Shepperd feil and pretended to be 



230 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



dead, though, in fact, he was only slightly wounded. 
He was left on the ground with the dead bodies of his 
companions, and when night carne he got up and went 
off without being observed. The next morning, when 
the Mexicans examined the bodies again, they were 
greatly astonished to find that one was missing, and 
could not be accounted for satisfactorily in any way. 
Shepperd wandered around for several weeks without 
being recaptured, but at length he was discovered, 
taken back to Saltillo, and shot to death in the public 
square, and his body carried out and left unburied on 
the commons. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



San Luis Potosí — Queretaro — Tuli — The Black Hole of Cal- 
cutta — Murder of Captain Cameron — Arrival at the City of 
México — Put to Work on the Public Road — How Wallace 
Got HisPay — How One of the Men "Played Horse" — Escape 
of Prisoners — Why Wallace Was Called "Big-Foot" — 
"Texas Cannibals." 



T 



"^HE next morning we took up the line of march 
for San Luis Potosí, but before leaving the 
dreary oíd rancho, we were taken out and 
drawn up in line in front of the bloody and stiffened 
forms of our murdered companions. For what pur- 
pose this was done I know not, unless it was to inspire 
us with a wholesome dread of a similar fate should 
we ever attempt to rise upon our guard again. 

In four or five days we arrived at San Luis Potosi, 
the largest city we had yet seen in México. It has a 
population of perhaps íifty or sixty thousand. Here 
we remained several days, during which time our 
handcufts or "bracelets," as we termed them, which 
we had worn constantly for more than a month, were 
taken oíf. 

We then went on to Queretaro, also a considerable 
city; and thence to Tuli, a little village, containing a 
few hundred inhabitants. 

At Tuli we were all crammed into a small room, 
without ventilation, and carne near suífocating before 
we were liberated. It gave me a vivid conception of 
the horrors of the "black hole" at Calcutta. 

At a little place beyond this, the ñame of which I 
have forgotten, the gallant Captain Cameron was 



232 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



taken out and shot by order of Santa Ana. I under- 
stood the plea for this second murder was, that in the 
lottery of the black and white beans, there was a frac- 
tional part of our number (not quite ten men) for 
which no additional black bean had been put in the 
pot, and Captain Cameron was shot to make amends 
for the omission. The truth is, however, the Mexi- 
cans were afraid of him, and no doubt had deter- 
mined to put him out of the way "by fair means or 
foul." No braver or better man than Captain Cam- 
eron ever lived or died. His death was universally 
regretted by the men. 

In two or three days we arrived at the City of 
México, and were furnished with quarters in the 
prison of Santiago, just outside its limits. A descrip- 
tion of the City of México has been so often given, 
by those better qualified for such a task than I am, 
that I shall not attempt it. 

We remained at Santiago but a few days, and were 
then transferred to the prison of San Angel. Nearly 
everything and every place in México is named after 
some Saint; and among them, some of the most un- 
mitigated rascáis I have ever known have rejoiced in 
the patronymic of "Jesús," or "Hasoos," as they pro- 
nounce it. 

From San Angel, at the expiration of nine or ten 
days, we were taken to Molino del Rey, where we 
were supplied with picks, spades, and shovels, and put 
to work on the public road between Tacubaya and the 
Bishop's Palace. We remained in the City of México 
from about the first of May until the last of October, 
during all of which time we were kept pretty con- 
stantly employed on the public works, for which we 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



233 



have never received one dime in the way of compen- 
sation to this day. On reflection, however, I am wrong 
in making such an assertion, as far as I am individu- 
ally concerned, for when General Taylor captured 
Monterey in 1846, I was amply repaid for all the 
work I had done for the Mexican Government, in 
witnessing the defeat and discomfiture of their "grand 
army" at that place, to say nothing of a few "pesos" 
I picked up in the row. 

If the truth must be told, though, we never injured 
ourselves much by work while in México. We re- 
sorted to all sorts of expedients that would enable us 
to slight the tasks imposed on us. For instance, when 
carrying small rocks or pebbles in the sacks furnished 
us for that purpose, we would tear holes in them and 
let our loads drip out gradually on the way, so that by 
the time we arrived at our destination, there probably 
wouldn't be material enough left in the sack to make 
a "dirt-dauber's nest." 

On a certain occasion, when we were all employed 
in transporting earth and other materials from one 
part of the road to another, the Mexicans hitched up 
some of our stoutest men to little carts, to enable us to 
carry on the work more rapidly. Among them was a 

stout active fellow by the ñame of J , who soon 

became so disgusted with "playing horse" that he re- 
solved to "fly the track." While the train of carts was 
traveling slowly along the edge of the embankment, 
he suddenly pretended to "take fright" at some object 
on the roadside, and giving a snort that a mustang 
wouldn't have been ashamed of, he started oíf with his 
cart at railway speed. In vain the Mexican guard that 
were stationed along the road at intervals, hallooed 



234. 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



to him to stop, and even placed themselves in his way 
in their endeavors to arrest his flight. But nothing 
could stop his headlong career after he had once got 
his cart fairly under way, for the road was smooth 
and hard and down-hill in the direction he was going. 

At length he carne to a favorable spot, and kicking 
himself out of the traces, he gave the cart a dexter- 
ous twist, that sent it whirling down to the bottom of 
the embankment, where it was dashed to pieces on the 
rocks. This was all the work of an instant; and con- 
tinuing his flight down the road with increased 
velocity, when freed from the cart, he ran on a hun- 
dred yards or so farther, when he suddenly halted, 
whirled round, and gave another snort that might 
have been heard for a mile. 

I verily believe the Mexicans thought at first that 
he had run off involuntarily, supposing, perhaps, it 
was one of the natural characteristics of the "wild 
Texans" to stampede occasionally like wild horses; 
but when the fun of the thing gradually dawned upon 
them they laughed heartily, and as soon as the run- 
away was captured and brought back, instead of pun^ 
ishing him severely, as we anticipated, they gave him 
his shovel and told him to go, and never afterward 
hitched him in the traces again. 

While in the City of México, nine or ten of our men 
succeeded in making their escape from prison, and 
eventually the most of them, in various disguises, 
from the country. They got out of their cells through 
a small tunnel they had dug with their knives under 
the foundations, barely large enough for one man to 
pass through at a time. They worked at this tunnel by 
turns during the night, packing off the dirt and other 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



235 



material excavated ín their haversacks, when they 
went out to their daily tasks. There is no doubt that 
they labored much more f aithfully at this little private 
job than they ever did upon the public works. 

Among the men who escaped was one named 
Thompson, who had played "oíd soldier" upon the 
Mexicans the whole time. When we were recaptured 
in the mountains, he bound up one of his legs with oíd 
rags, and pretended to be too lame to walk, and the 
guard was compelled to furnish him with a horse. He 
never walked a foot of the way from there to the City 
of México. The Mexicans were, therefore, much 
astonished, when these men made their escape from 
prison, to íind that the "pobrecito coxo," as they called 
him (the "poor lame fellow"), Thompson, was one 
of the number. I knew all the while there was nothing 
in the world the matter with him, but, of course, I felt 
no disposition to betray him. 

It was while we were prisoners at the City of 
México that I acquired the ñame of "Big-Foot," which 
has stuck to me like Texas mud ever since. It hap- 
pened in this way : Some of the foreign residents of 
the city, observing that we were almost in a shoeless 
condition, made up by contribution among themselves 
a sufficient sum to purchase a pair of shoes for each of 
us. Every one was fitted with a suitable pair except 
myself ; but I searched in vain every shop and "tienda" 
in the city for even a pair of No. 1 i's, though 12's fit 
me best, and finally I had no alternative left me but 
to buy the leather and have a pair put up on purpose 
for me by a "zapatero," or go barefooted. The Mexi- 
cans are generally a small people compared with the 
Americans, and their feet are still smaller in propor- 



236 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



tion ; consequently they were much astonished at the 
size of mine, and from that time forward, and as long 
as I remained in the city, I was known among them 
as "Big-Foot." 

I flatter myself, however, that my foot is not a very 
large one, taking into consideration the f act that I am 
just six f eet two inches in height, and weigh upward of 
two hundred pounds net. But, even if it were other- 
wise, there is nothing dishonorable in the appellation, 
and I would rather be called "Big-Foot Wallace" than 
"Lying Wallace," or "Thieving Wallace." Such han- 
dles to my ñame would not be agreeable. 

During our stay in México, on one occasion, when 
five or six of us were being taken by a guard from one 
part of the city to another for some purpose, a mob of 
oíd men, women, and boys gathered around us, shout- 
ing "Muere los Gringos !" "Down with the heretics," 
etc. Our guard endeavored in vain to keep them back, 
and they were pressing closer and closer upon us in the 
most threatening manner. At last the sergeant in com- 
mand of the guard told the mob if they did not give 
way he would turn the "Texas cannibals" loóse among 
them. We heard and understood very well what he 
said, and to carry out the joke, and make a diversión 
in our favor, three or four of us grabbed as many oíd 
women and boys who had ventured in reach of us, and 
made out we were going to eat them up at once, with- 
out salt or pepper. 

I clinched an oíd wrinkled squaw, who had been 
making herself very "prominent" in the "melée," and 
took a good bite at her neck, but it was tougher than 
a ten-year-old buffalo bull's, and though I bit with a 
willy and can crack a hickory-nut easily with my grin- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



237 



ders, I could make no impression on it whatever. 
However, this unexpected demonstration on the part 
of the "Gringos" took the mob completely by sur- 
prise, and they scattered like a flock of partridges, 
and we were molested no more that day. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Puebla — Perote — Wallace Has "Ja'ü Fever" — The Surgeon- 
General Saves His Life — Seeing the Animáis — More Men 
Escape — Final Reléase, and Start Home — Stopped by Rob- 
bers, Who Prove to Be Very Clever Fellows — Yellow Fever 
— Home Again. 

AT various times during our stay in the City of 
/=\ México, all of our men who claimed to be 
)\ British subjects were released, at the request 
of the English minister, Doyle. The United States 
minister, General Waddy Thompson, I believe made 
every effort in his power for our liberation, but for a 
long time was altogether unsuccessful. 

I could easily lengthen out my narrative of the 
"Mier Expedition" by entering into a detailed account 
of the cities and countries we passed through while in 
México ; and by commenting upon, and censuring or 
applauding the motives and conduct of the prominent 
men or leaders in this disastrous expedition. But I 
had no idea of attempting to write a prof essed history 
of the "Mier Expedition." My solé object has been 
to describe such scenes and incidents as carne under 
my own observation, and to relate such anecdotes and 
occurrences connected therewith as I thought would 
be interesting or amusing to my readers. This I have 
done to the best of my ability, and I shall now hasten 
to the cióse of my story. 

On the last day of October, we left the City of 
México for Puebla, and thence on to Perote. Between 
Puebla and Perote we were confined one night in a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



239 



house in which the small-pox was raging, but, strange 
to say, none of us contracted the disease. 

At Perote we found the prisoners that had been 
captured at San Antonio when General Woll took 
possession of that place. Some time after our arrival 
at Perote, I had a violent attack of the "jail-fever," as 
it was called — a sort of epidemic prevailing among us, 
produced, I suppose, by confinement in illy-ventilated 
quarters, and the want of wholesome and sufficient 
food. I soon became delirious, and in that state was 
removed to the hospital, with many others suffering 
from the same disease. 

In the height of my delirium, I am told, I became 
entirely unmanageable, and several times "cleaned 
out" all the guard and other attendants of the hos- 
pital. They were compelled at last to u lasso" me, and 
tie me down to my bed, which was eifected with great 
difficulty, for my strength (and I am no chicleen at 
ordinary times) was increased fivefold under the ex- 
citement of fever. 

One day, after my frenzy had somewhat abated, 
one of the attendants of the hospital carne to dress 
some blisters that had been placed upon me when I 
was delirious. The rascal cooly proceeded to handle 
me as if I had been as devoid of feeling as a "knot on a 
log," tearing the blisters from my arms by main forcé, 
and causing me thereby the most horrible torture. A 
heavy copper stew-pan happened to be within reach 
of me, which I grabbed instantly, and, exerting all the 
strength I had, I gave him a u clew" on the side of the 
head with it that knocked him senseless to the floor. 
The guard stationed in the room immediately rushed 
upon me with their drawn sabres, and no doubt would 



240 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



have made mincemeat of me, if luckily the surgeon- 
general had not at that moment stepped in and inter- 
posed his authority in ray behalf, and saved my life. 
He said that I had served the fellow I had knocked 
down exactly right ; that he richly merited the chastise- 
ment, for the harshness and cruelty with which he had 
always treated the sick and helpless. 

This oíd surgeon-general was one of the best- 
hearted men I ever knew, and I shall never forget his 
kindness to me when I was sick and a prisoner at 
Perote. For some reason, he took a great fancy to 
me, and always favored me as much as he could, and 
when I left there he made me a handsome present of 
money and clothes. He was a Castilian, or Spaniard, 
by birth, and not a Mexican, which may account satis- 
factorily in a great measure for the fact that he was 
not a bigoted tyrant in disposition. At any rate I hope 
he may live a thousand years and never lose his front 
teeth, for a Spaniard or Mexican cannot manage the 
"¿garito" very well without them. 

While at Perote, the "Dons" of the city frequently 
carne into our quarters to get a look at the "Texas 
barbarians." They would poke us up from our lairs 
with their walking-sticks, just as I have seen the beasts 
stirred up with a long pole in a menagerie, now and 
then applying some such remarks to us as "Carram- 
bo ! look at that fellow's teeth, will you I" "Did you 
ever see such feet and hands?" "Carrajo! what red 
hair that fellow's got! I wonder if he wouldn't give 
me a lock to light my cigaros with ?" "Cuidado ! don't 
go too near that chap with the big mouth and bushy 
beard; he has a ravenous look!" "I wonder when 
they are going to feed them? I should like to see that 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



24I 



cannibal there devour five or six pounds of raw beef !" 
and other like expressions. 

Some time in March the Bexar prisoners were re- 
leased, by order of Santa Ana, and furnished with 
passports to go home. We sincerely rejoiced in their 
good fortune, but our own lot seemed more cheerless 
and hopeless than ever after their departure. 

Not long after this, sixteen of our men escaped 
from one of the dungeons in which they were confined 
in the castle. When the guard entered it in the morn- 
ing, they were astonished to find a huge black hole 
burrowed down in one córner, and leading down be- 
neath the foundations of the castle and out into the 
moat or ditch that surrounded it. Most of these men 
eventually got out of the country without being re- 
captured. 

For a long time after the escape of these prisoners, 
we were much more strictly guarded, and subjected to 
harsher treatment than had previously been the case. 

I remained at Perote from some time in November 
until the 22d day of August, when I was liberated, 
together with five or six others, and furnished with 
passports to return home. The balance of our men 
were, I believe, all set free shortly afterward. 

From Perote my companions and myself went on to 
Jalapa, where we rested for a day or two, and then 
took the road to Vera Cruz. 

A few miles beyond Jalapa we were stopped by a 
company of robbers on horseback ( eleven in number ) , 
who demanded our money. We told them that we had 
been prisoners for a long time, and had just been liber- 
ated, and of course we were not particularly flush of 
funds. The one who seemed to have command of the 



242 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



party then asked me if we were Texans, and if we had 
passports. I told him we were Texans, and handed 
him my own passport, signed by Santa Ana. He 
looked at it and pronounced it all right, but said that 
Santa Ana was a scoundrel, and wished to know why 
the Texans did not kill him when they had him in their 
power. I told him if I had had the keeping of him, he 
never would have troubled México any more. 

This reply appeared to tickle them amazingly, and 
the robber chief then asked me to what place we were 
traveling. I told him to Vera Cruz, and he said they 
were going in the same direction, and would keep us 
company and protect us from any further molesta- 
tion on the way. I thought to myself that such protec- 
tion as they would be likely to give us was of a very 
questionable character. However, we traveled along 
sociably together for seven or eight miles, and night 
coming on, they turned off the main road and con- 
ducted us to a large ranch or hacienda, that appeared 
to be a sort of rendezvous for gentlemen of their 
profession. 

The inmates of this ranch seemed to be well ac- 
quainted with the robbers, and when they entered, it 
was "How are you, colonel?" and "How are you, 
major?" from all sides. Tities were as plentiful 
among them as they are in Texas when a closely con- 
tested election is about to come off. Here an excellent 
supper was soon prepared, and we were cordially in- 
vited to partake of it. Supper ended, a variety of 
fruits and some excellent wines were placed upon the 
table. I asked the robber chief if that was their usual 
style of living, and when he replied that it was, I told 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



243 



him if there was any vacancy in the corps I should like 
to enlist. 

This little politic speech of mine appeared to please 
the robbers exceedingly, and they drank the health of 
the "Gringo" in a full bumper. 

After a night of general jollincation, the next morn- 
ing they íilled our haversacks with provisions, gave us 
half a dollar apiece, and escorted us back to the road„ 
where they bid us "adiós," with many expressions of 
good will. I told the boys I wished the robbers would 
attack us every day in the same way these had done 
until we reached Vera Cruz. 

We arrived at Vera Cruz without the happening of 
any further incident worth mentioning. A few days 
after our arrival I was taken with the "vomito," or 
yellow fever, and carne very near "shuffling off this 
mortal coil" again. When I recovered sufficiently to 
travel, we took passage on a vessel bound to New 
Orleans, where we landed safely about the 24th of 
September. Just as our vessel (which was a crazy oíd 
hulk and totally unseaworthy) was towed over the 
bar at the mouth of the Mississippi, a tremendous 
hurricane carne on, which would assuredly have sent 
us all to "Davy Jones's locker" had we been half an 
hour "behind time." In a few days I took passage on 
a steamer for Texas, and arrived at San Antonio in 
December following, after an absence of little more 
than two years. 



CHAPTER XL. 



Wallace Hears From Virginia — Civilized Compared With Un- 
civilized Life — He Determines to Take a Trip to "The Oíd 
States" — Lays in a "Civilized" Wardrobe — An Oíd Friend 
Finds Him Disguised in His New Clothes — Starts on His 
Journey — Wallace's Opinión of the Sea — At New Orleans, 
and What He Saw There. 



¡OME years after the Mexican war, a stranger 



stopped at my "ranch" one night, and gave me 



a letter which he said the postmaster at San 
Antonio had requested him to deliver. I opened it, 
and found that it was from one of my relatives in 
Virginia, advising me to come on there at once, as my 
presence was necessary in the división of an estáte, of 
which I was one of the heirs. 

I had never been back to the "States" since I left 
Virginia in 1837, and made up my mind at once that 
I would go — not so much for the purpose of securing 
what property I might be entitled to, as to see how 
people managed to live in those oíd countries, without 
the excitement of an occasional Indian íight, or a 
"scrimmage 1 ' with the Mexicans, or even a "tussle" 
with a bear now and then to keep their blood in circu- 
lación. I thought to myself, it must be a mighty hum- 
drum sort of a way of living, but I suppose custom 
enables one to get used to almost anything. The hap- 
piest people I ever saw on earth were the Keechies, 
who were at war with all the neighboring tribes, and 
ran a great risk of having their hair lifted, even when 
they went to the spring for a drink of water. 




BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



245 



I don't say this to recommend a state of warfare, 
but only to prove that people can get used to almost 
everything but skinning. I once saw the Keechies skin 
some of their prisoners alive, and they didn't live 
twenty minutes afterward. Nothing can survive that 
operation long, except a snake. 

But, to come back to my story : It was necessary, 
bef ore I started on my trip, to replenish my wardrobe, 
as what I had on hand wasn't exactly suitable for civil- 
ized countries. Leather hunting-shirts and leggings 
are just the things for the prairies and chaparral; but 
I had a sort of idea they wouldn't be considered the 
"height of the fashion" by the people of the "Oíd 
States." 

I had a splendid suit of buckskin given me by my 
oíd friend "Bah-pish-na-ba-hoo-tee" (which means 
"Little blue whistling thunder" in the Tonkawa lan- 
guage), made of the skins of the "big-horn," and 
rigged off with buffalo tags and little copper bells, that 
jingled musically as I walked along; and when I was 
dressed up in them, and had my coonskin cap on, with 
its tail hanging down behind, I do believe there wasn't 
a young woman in the settlement that could look at me 
with impunity. But even that, I concluded, wouldn't 
be exactly the thing for my travels ; so the next day I 
got on my horse, and rodé into San Antonio, to supply 
myself with such articles as I required. 

A city friend, who was posted in the f ashions, went 
around with me to the shops, and bought for me such 
things as he said I would want — a stove-pipe hat, and 
coat and pantaloons, and a pair of patent-leather 
boots that were as slick and shiny as a darkey's face 



246 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



after a dinner of fat 'possum, and a pair of gloves 
that I never wore but once, for they "choked" my 
hands so that they made me short-winded. He bought 
me also a number of other little traps, combs, brushes, 
etc., and a two-story trunk to hold them all. 

A day or two after I had made my purchases, I 
thought it advisable to rig myself out in my "toggery," 
so as to get a little used to their "hang" before I 
started on my journey. I squeezed myself into a pair 
of pants that íitted as tight as candle-moulds, and into 
a blue coat with metal buttons that was tighter still, 
and which split from stem to stern the first time I 
sneezed, and finally forced my feet into the shiny 
boots, without bursting either them or a blood- 
vessel, which was the greatest wonder of all. 

When I had rigged myself out from head to foot, 
I felt as I suppose a man would feel who had a layer 
of "daubin" plastered over him, that had hardened in 
the sun. I couldn't bend my knees, ñor crook my 
elbows; couldn't do anything except sit bolt upright 
in a chair, with my legs straight out before me. Even 
when I smiled at the ridiculous figure I cut, no matter 
how faintly or sweetly, I could hear a seam crack 
somewhere. If the shanty had caught íire just then, I 
would have been roasted to a certainty, before I could 
have made my retreat. 

It so happened that while I was "trussed up" in that 
style, a fellow with whom I had a slight acquaintance 
carne in to see me about buying a horse. I asked him 
to take a seat, which he did, all the time staring at me 
in a way that convinced me he didn't know me. At 
length he inquired if "Big-Foot" was at home. I 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



247 



laughed outright, at the expense of two buttons and a 
rent in my pants, and he then recognized me at once. 
"Why, 'Big-Foot','' he said, "what do you mean by 
disguising yourself in that way? Are you crazy, or 
are you going a-courting?" 

"Neither," I replied. "I am tired of tending stock, 
and fighting Indians, and intend to play the gentleman 
awhile, and as a commencement of my new career, I 
have bought this suit of 'store clothes' on tick, which 
I am trying on to see how I feel in them. Though my 
education has been considerably neglected in these 
backwoods, just as soon as I can learn to play poker 
and cut-throat loo, swear like a trooper, and can run 
off with some man's wife, I have some hopes the fra- 
ternity will admit me as a member. It is true I haven't 
killed a man as yet in a duel, but I have 'got' 'severial' 
in fights with the enemies of my country, and perhaps 
they will consider that a fair offset. What do you 
think?" 

My friend said he had no doubt I would do with a 
little training, and asked me when I proposed to make 
a start in my new line of business. 

■*I am off in the morning," said I. "I have just five 
hundred dollars in my pocket, and when I have got 
through with that and my 'inheritance,' I shall come 
back to my ranch here, put on my oíd buckskins, and 
run after stock and fight Indians for a livelihood the 
balance of my life." 

My friend bid me good-by, and the next morning, 
leaving my "ranch" in the care of my oíd compadre, 
Jeff Bond, I went into San Antonio, and took the stage 
for Indianola. There I got on board a steamer that 



248 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



was just ready to start, and in two or three hours we 
wcre rolling and tossing on the Gulf . 

Anybody can have my share of the sea that wants it. 
I had rather have ten acres of the poorest ground in 
Texas than the whole Gulf of México. I want some- 
thing solid under me, and not miles of slippery, sloshy 
water, that is forever heaving and setting, and swell- 
ing, and sinking, and sliding and slipping from under 
a fellow, until his head grows dizzy, and his stomach 
is turned inside-out. 

I am very fond of oysters, and ate about a peck of 
'em raw, and four or five dozen fried, f or dinner, just 
before I left Indianola; but I returned them all to 
their native element as soon as we got over the bar. 
How the sailors manage to live for six or seven 
months at sea, without ever seeing land, is a wonder 
to me. Two days were enough for me, and I was 
truly glad when at the end of that time I found myself 
on the "levee" in the city of New Orleans. 

What a sudden change from the quietness and soli- 
tude of the little "ranch" on the borders of Texas, 
where I had lived so long, to the noise and bustle of a 
big city like New Orleans ! I put on my "sombrero," 
for I had thrown away the "stove-pipe" as a useless 
concern (I would as soon wear a Dutch-oven on the 
top of my head) , and walked out to see the sights and 
lions of the city. Everything was new and strange to 
me ! The clatter of the hundreds of drays and omni- 
buses, tearing through the streets; the piles óf mer- 
chandise and cotton-bales heaped up along the levee ; 
the long line of steamers and vessels moored side by 
side, and loaded with the productions of every quarter 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



249 



of the globe ; the eager crowds rushing here and there, 
as if life and death depended on their reaching some 
particular spot at a certain minute — and maybe in 
some cases they did, for the "pólice" were in full 
chase after some of them — and the many foreign lan- 
guages that I heard on all sides, Dutch, French, Span- 
ish, Irish, etc., all brought forcibly to my mind the 
fact that I had got a long ways from the prairies and 
chaparrals of Texas. 

At the córner of one of the streets I stopped to look 
at a foreigner of some sort, who was turning a crank 
fixed in a hollow box, by which he ground out occa- 
sionally a pretty fair tune, but with a sort of drone to 
it, like the Methodist hymns that are sung at camp- 
meetin's when the weather is damp and everybody has 
got bad colds. On top of the box a monkey sat, mak- 
ing faces at the crowd, and poking the nuts and cakes 
into his mouth, which were now and then thrown to 
him by the boys. By the side of the man stood a little 
girl dressed in a faded, seedy-looking muslin gown, 
and beating on a wide hoop covered with a piece of 
dried deerskin, and hung round with little metal plates 
about the size of those the Indians usually wear in the 
nose. They all had a melancholy and j aded look ( even 
the monkey, except when he cracked a nut) , especially 
the poor little girl, who beat on the hoop with the 
jangles in a mechanical sort of way, as if she was 
heartily sick and tired of the whole concern — and no 
wonder. I felt sorry for her, and slipped a new fifty- 
cent piece into her hand; but the man with the box 
saw me do it, and it enlivened him so that he gave the 
thing another screw, and ground out "Hail, Colum- 



250 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



bia" about as easy as I could grind a peck of hominy 
on a steel mili. 

Just then a tolerable genteel-looking chap, who had 
been watching me for some time, stepped up and re- 
quested a word with me in private. We went a little 
way off to ourselves, when he told me that he was a 
stranger in the city (left there by some accident, I have 
forgotten now what), and that he was entirely with- 
out money, and had not eaten a bite for more than 
two days ; and if I would only give him íifty cents for a 
gold ring, which he fished out of his pocket, I would 
be doing him a great favor. I told him we didn't 
consider a two days' fast, on the prairies of Texas, a 
thing of much consequence (and, really, he didn't 
seem to be much the worse for it himself), but that if 
he was in want of something to eat, I would f reely give 
him the fifty cents, as I did not want the ring, never 
having worn one in my life, except a large copper one 
in my nose, out of compliment to my friends the 
Lipans, when I was on a visit to the tribe. The fellow, 
however, generously insisted on my taking the ring, 
and actually forced it on one of my fingers, and as he 
did so, he remarked that it was well worth five dol- 
lars. It may have been worth five dollars in some 
markets, where brass was exceedingly scarce, but in 
New Orleans they sell a better quality at about three 
cents a dozen, for window curtains. However, the 
fellow left me with many thanks, and in a few mo- 
ments I saw him go into a "saloon," where drinkables 
on the "tangle-leg" and "bust-head" order were sold 
at five cents a glass to flat-boat-men and men of that 
stripe. Two or three hours afterward I found him 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



251 



lying dead-drunk in a gutter, and it occurred to me 
that perhaps he had mistaken his case — that he had 
been two days without drinking instead of wíthout 
eating. However, I kept the ring as a memento of the 
poor f ellow, and have got it yet, though it is now cov- 
ered with verdigris, and smells louder than an oíd 
brass candlestick. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



Wallace Goes to the Theatre — His Opinión of "Play-Actors" — 
The Dancing Woman — Wallace Gets Excited — The St. 
Charles "Tavern" — How He Registered His Ñame — Wallace 
Is Afraid of a Fire — He Breakfasts at the St. Charles, and 
Gets Up an Excitement — The Bill of Fare — Fried Bullfrogs. 

IN the evening I went to the theatre, and saw a play 
acted for the first time in my life. One or two of 
the actors I thought performed pretty well, but 
the most of them stormed and blustered out of all 
reason. When a man is in earnest he don't generally 
say much. Once two f ellows that were after the same 
young woman carne out on the stage and had a regular 
"set-to" with their swords. Twenty times a minute 
exactly they hit their swords together, first on one 
side, then on the other, and never drew a drop of 
blood. It was the poorest attempt at a fight I ever 
saw, and when at last one of them quit cutting the 
other's sword, and stuck his own through his body, I 
thought he might just as well have done it at the start 
— there was nothing to hinder him that I could see. 
Til bet a gallón of "bear's ile" I could have given the 
Tonkawa war-whoop, jumped on the stage, and 
cleaned them both out in two minutes with "Oíd 
Butch," with "ease and elegance." If play-actors gen- 
erally don't know anything more about fighting than 
these did, they ought to come out to Texas and attend 
the polis during an exciting election, and they wouíd 
learn more about it in a week than they could on the 
stage in forty years. It wouldn't be click! click! as 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



253 



regular as the ticking of a wooden clock, and nothing 
done for half an hour, but it would be "pop" here, and 
over he goes — "bang" there, and down he drops; and 
in less time than it takes me to tell it, the whole green 
would be covered with "bits of skull and tufts of 
hair," and as red with blood as a slaughter-pen. 

Between two parts of the play, a young woman 
carne out on the stage and made a low bow to the 
people, who yelled and shouted as if she had done 
something extra. Her dress was very low above, and 
very high below, and a very scanty pattern in the 
middle, and so thin, if it hadn't been for the spangles 
on it, you wouldn't have suspected she had on any 
dress at all. When the people kept on yelling and 
shouting ever so long, she brought a whirl on the tip 
of one toe, and made another bow so low that the hem 
of her dress almost touched the floor, and as she 
straightened up she stuck one foot straight out before 
her, and "pinted" it right at me, and kept on "pint- 
ing" it so long, that although I'm not generally a very 
bashful man, I rather caved in and drew my sombrero 
over my face. All at once she made another whirl and 
brought the straight foot down against the other with 
a slap, and at it she went in earnest — cross over, right 
and left, heel and toe, backward and forward, "likety- 
clicket," up one side and down the other, till it almost 
made a fellow feel dizzy to watch her little feet shuf- 
fling in and out so fast, that you could only see them 
now and then when the bottoms were turned up to- 
ward you. 

I thought I had seen pretty fair dancers among the 
Mexican señoritas, but none of them could hold a 
candle for that young woman. At last she brought 



254 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



another whirl on the tip of her toe, made another low 
bow, and as she rose stuck her foot out again, and 
"pinted" it right at me. The people yelled louder than 
ever at this, and threw bouquets and half-dollars on 
the stage till the floor was almost covered. 

By this time, I had got considerably excited myself, 
and as I had no bouquets or money about me, I threw 
her everything I had in my pockets, among which was 
a plug of tobáceo about a foot long, three New York 
pippins, and my coarse comb ; and not f eeling entirely 
relieved by that, I jumped up on the seat and gave the 
Tonkawa war-whoop till the rafters of the house 
fairly shook again. There was a dead silence at once. 
The young woman looked frightened and skipped olí 
the stage, an everybody started at me. Then, such an- 
other hurrah began as you never heard, some holler- 
ing "Encoré ! encoré !" and others, u Put him out — put 
him out!" but just then the little bell tinkled and the 
curtain was hoisted, and the play commenced again. 

At last it all carne to an end, and the young man 
married the young woman he had been courting so 
long; an oíd únele of his fortunately "pegged out" 
about that time, and left him a power of money, and 
everything else wound up and u dovetailed in" in the 
luckiest way for the happy pair. 

As soon as the play was over, I went to the St. 
Charles tavern, to hunt up quarters for the night, as 
I had been told it was the best in the city, and I was 
determined to have the best of everything going while 
I was on my travels. Some one had pointed the tavern 
out to me in the daytime, and as it was but a little way 
off, I soon carne to it, and went up the broad steps in 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



255 



front, and then into a room where several men were 
putting their ñames down in a book. 

I asked a fellow standing behind the railing at a 
desk, if the landlord was in, as I wanted to see him. 
He laughed a little, though I didn't see anything funny 
in the question, and told me the landlord was out just 
then, but that he would attend to any business I might 
have with him. I told him all I wanted was a room 
to sleep in, and as much "grub" as I could eat as long 
as I staid in New Orleans. 

"Certainly," said he, "you can be accommodated. 
Will you please register your ñame?" 

I took the pen and wrote down "Big-Foot Wallace" 
in the first column, "Buffalo-Bull Ranch, Texas," in 
the second, and "Oíd Virginny" in the third. Then 
the clerk, or whoever he was, struck something that 
sounded like a clock, and a fellow jumped up f rom the 
córner of the room, and carne up to where we were. 

"Show this gentleman to No. 395," and he handed 
the waiter a little piece of candle that didn't look to 
me nigh long enough to last us through three hundred 
and nity-five rooms. But the whole tavern was lighted 
up with little brass knobs, that made every place as 
bright as day. 

The waiter took me up one pair of stairs, and then 
up another and another, until I thought I was in a fáir 
way to get to heaven at last, providing my breath 
didn't fail me. We then wound about through half a 
dozen lañes and alleys, until at last we carne to No. 
395. The waiter unlocked the door, lit my candle, 
and told me good night. 

"Stop a minute, my friend," said I ; "if this tavern 



256 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



should catch fire to-night, how am I to find my way 
back again to where we started from? 

"Oh," said he, "there's no danger of fire, for it is 
all built of rock ! and besides, it's insured." 

"Devil trust it," said I, "with that gas stuff burning 
all over it. If it can set firc to a brass knob, why can't 
it burn a rock, too? Fd rather trust myself in a dry 
prairie, with a stiff 'norther' blowing, and the grass 
waist high, and hostile Indians all around : my chances 
of being roasted alive wouldn't be half as good as 
they are up here in No. 395 ; and besides," said I, "Fm 
not insured!" 

"Well," said he, "if the house catches fire, all 
youVe got to do is to pulí that string hanging down 
there with the tassel on the end of it, which rings a 
bell, and FU come up and show you the road down." 

"Look here, my friend," said I, u you can't satisfy 
me in that way. This is room 395, and I suppose 
there's at least 395 more of 'em, and when 790 bells 
are all ringing at the same time, how are you going to 
tell which one is mine ? You might as well try to tell 
the bellowing of a particular buffalo-bull in a gang of 
ten thousand. No, sir; you stay up here with me, and 
when the row commences, if you are lucky enough 
to find your way down, I won't be far behind you." 

"Well," said he, "when my watch is up, which will 
be in about half an hour, 1*11 come back." 

" 'Nough said," I replied, "and FU stand treat in 
the morning." 

So I turned into bed, and in five minutes was fast 
asleep. I never knew whether the fellow carne back 
or not, but I suppose he did, for he claimed the "treat" 
off me the first thing in the morning. I gave him a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



257 



brand-new fifty-cent piece, and he said he'd like to 
take the job by the week at half the price : so I engaged 
him regularly at twenty-five cents a night, and con- 
sidered it dirt-cheap at that. 

I made an early start in the morning, for I knew I 
had a crooked way to travel and a dim trail to f ollow ; 
and about 9 o'clock I found myself in the room where 
I had registered my ñame the night before, and feel- 
ing considerably snappish after my long tramp. 

I inquired of one of the porters sitting there, how 
long it was till breakf ast. He said any time I wanted 
it, and showed me the way into the breakfast-room. 
It was almost as large as a small prairie, and, instead 
of one long table, as we have in our taverns at home, 
there were at least forty or fifty little round ones scat- 
tered about all over it. 

Being of rather a social disposition, although I 
have lived so much in the woods by myself, and seeing 
a tolerably jovial little party of ladies and gentlemen 
sitting around one of these tables, I walked up and 
took a seat with them. I saw in a minute I wasn't 
welcome, for the gentlemen looked as ill-natured as a 
sulky bull, and the ladies all tittered; but I pretended 
not to notice it, and called to one of the waiters who 
was running round, to bring me a pound or so of 
beefsteak and the "condiments." 

At this, one of the men spoke up, and said "he pre- 
sumed I was under a mistake, as that was a prívate 
table." 

"Yes, sir," said I, "I am. I presumed you were 
gentlemen; and as to this being a private table, all I 
have to say is, it's the first one I ever saw in a 'public 
house.' However," I continued, 'Tve no wish to forcé 



258 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



my company where it isn't wanted," and I got up and 
took a seat at another table. 

If a man had spoken to me at a tavern in Texas the 
way that chap did, I would have introduced him to 
"Oíd Butch" at once; but thinks I, maybe things are 
different here, and I bothered myself no more about it. 

There was nothing to eat on the table where I had 
taken a seat but a píate of butter and a bowl of sugar ; 
but in a minute or so a waiter stepped up and handed 
me a paper. I took it, folded it up, and laid it on the 
table. 

"My friend," says I, "I'm 'remarkable' hungry just 
now, and FU read that after I get something to eat, if 
you say there's anything special in it." 

After a little while he says, "What'll you have for 
breakfast, sir?" 

"Well," I answered, "anything that's fat and juicy. 
What have you got cooked?" 

"If you'll read the 'bilí of f are,' " says he, "you can 
see for yourself." 

"Wellüet's have it," said I. 

"That's it you have just folded up and laid on the 
table there," he replied. 

"Oh, yes," said I. "I understand now;" and I 
picked it up, and the first thing I saw on it was 'Café 
au lait* "and it's late enough too, for it, heaven 
knows," said I; "for I am used to taking a quart cup 
every morning just at daybreak!" 

"What else?" said the waiter, and I read on: 

"Páté de fots gras"—somt sort of yerbs, thought I, 
and I never went high on greens, especially for break- 
fast. I found most of the ñames of the things on the 
'bilí of fare' were French, or some other foreign 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



259 



lingo, and they were all Greek to me ; but, to make the 
waiter believe I knew very well what they were, only 
I wasn't partial to their sort of "grub," I told him to 
bring me sóme "crapeau fricassee" and "gumbo filet," 
and I wish I may never take another "chaw" of 
tobáceo if he did not bring me a plateful of fried bull- 
frogs' legs, and another full of their spawn, just the 
same sort of slimy, ropy stuff you see around the edges 
of shallow ponds. I might have known that every- 
thing French had frog in it in some shape or other, 
just as certain as "Chili pepper" is found in every- 
thing the Mexicans cook. However, I made out a 
tolerable breakfast on other things, but would have 
been much better satisfied if I could have had four or 
five pounds of roasted buffalo-meat and a "marrow 
gut." 



CHAPTER XLII. 



Wallace Meets with an Adventure — Goes to a Quadroon Ball, 
and Teaches Them "The Stampede" — Wallace Takes a 
"White Lion," and Pays for It— Has His Fortune Told— 
What Followed. 

A FTER breakfast, I loaded my pipe and took a 
Ád\ seat on the front porch, with my legs hoisted 
JL up on the iron railings, and while I was sitting 
there puffing away, as comfortable as an oíd sow in a 
mud-hole on a hot day, a young woman carne along on 
the opposite side of the street, and stopped awhile to 
look at some pictures in a window. Presently she 
looked up and beckoned me to come to her ! I couldn't 
believe my eyes at first, but she kept on motioning her 
hand to me until I knew there was no mistake about it. 

I thought maybe she takes me for some acquaint- 
ance of hers, and FU go down and let her know she is 
on the wrong trail, just to see how foolish she will 
look when she finds she has been making so familiar 
with a stranger. So I went down the steps and crossed 
over to where she was standing. When I got up cióse 
to her I noticed that her dress didn't look overly neat, 
and that her eyes were as red as if she had been on a 
burst for the last week. I made her a polite bow, how- 
ever, and remarked that I suppose she was mistaken ; 
but before I could finish my speech, which I had "cut 
and dried," like the politicians, she ran up to me and 
grabbed me by the hand. 

"Oh, bosh!" said she, u not a bit of it: you are the 
hardest fellow to take a hint I ever saw. Fve been 
beckoning to you for the last half hour. Come along, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



26l 



Johnny Green, I want to introduce you to some par- 
ticular friends of mine." 

"My ñame ain't Johnny Green," said I, trying to 
get my hand loóse f rom her ; but she held on to it like 
a vise. 

"Oh ! never mind that," said she ; "come along with 
me, and we'll have a jolly time of it." 

Thinks I, if you ain't a brazen piece I never saw 
one ; f or all the time she was talking she kept dragging 
me on, though there were half a dozen fellows on the 
stoop of the tavern, killing themselves laughing at us. 
This made me desperate, and I jerked my hand away 
by main forcé, though I hated to serve anything like 
a woman in such a rough way. 

"Won't you go?" said she. 

"No," said I, "not just now; I haven't time." 

"Well," she answered, "if you won't go, I reckon 
you won't refuse to 'treat'." 

"Certainly not," said I. "What'll you take — a 
lemonade, or an ice-cream?" 

"To the oíd boy," said she, "with your lemonades 
and ice-cream! FU take a glass of brandy with a little 
schnapps in it." 

"There," said I, and I threw her a slick quarter; 
"that'll buy you one;" and I turned on my heel and 
made tracks for the tavern as fast as I could. 

Geminy! what a "cussin' " she gave me as I went! 
I thought I had heard the rangers on the frontiers of 
Texas make use of pretty hard language, but they 
couldn't hold a candle to that young woman. The 
farther I went the louder she "cussed," and I never 
got out of hearing of her until I found my way at last 



2Ó2 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



up to 395, where I bolted myself in, and never carne 
out till dinner-time. 

After supper, I fixed up a little, slicked down my 
hair with about a pint of bear's grease (some of my 
own killing), and went off to a "Quadroon Ball" in 
the French part of the city, for I was determined to 
see a little of everything going. Just as I entered the 
door of the house where the ball was given, a man 
stopped me and told me I would have to be searched 
before I could enter! 

u What for?" said I; "anything been stolen about 
here?" 

"No," said he; u but if you've got any weapons 
about you, you must give 'em up to me before you can 
go in, and I will be responsible for them." 

"Well," said I, "the truth is, I am partially 
'heeled'," and I handed him out a pair of Derringers 
and 'Oíd Butch.' 

"I don't care so much about the Derringers," said 
I, "but take good care of 'Oíd Butch,' for I have a 
sort of aífection for him, on account of the many 
scrapes he has helped me out of, and the amount of 
hair I have lifted from the heads of Indians with it." 

The doorkeeper looked at me and then at 'Oíd 
Butch,' as if he didn't know what to make of either 
of us exactly ; but he took the weapons, and told me I 
could have 'em when I left; and said he, "If you have 
any money about you of account, you had better leave 
it with me ; else you mayn't be able to put your hand 
on it when you want it." 

'Tve only a few Mexican dollars in my pocket," I 
answered, "and if anybody can get them, they are 
welcome to them." 



BIG-FOOT VVALLACE 



263 



"Very well," said he, you can go in." 

So I went up a pair of stairs, and into a long room 
filled with people, and lighted up as bright as a prairie 
on fire with gas-knobs. 'Most everybody had masks 
on, so you couldn't tell who they were, but that made 
no difference to me, for, of course, all there were 
strangers to me. 

There were two or three sets on the floor dancing, 
besides a great many little squads scattered all about, 
laughing and talking, and making fun of themselves 
and everybody else. I sauntered about among 'em for 
some time, amusing myself with looking on as well as 
I could. I had begun to get rather tired of the con- 
cern, as I had no one to dance with, when a genteel- 
looking chap with a parrot-bill mask on, carne up to 
me, and said "he presumed I was a stranger in the 
city." 

I told him he had hit the nail on the head exactly. 
"And how do you like our little fandango?" he 
asked. 

"Oh ! very well," said I ; "but I see you haven't yet 
introduced the Texas national dance — the Stam- 
pede." 

"No," said he; "have never heard of it before. 
Wouldn't you be kind enough to describe it to me, and 
FU introduce it immediately; we are very much in 
want of something new just now." 

"Of course," said I, "if you wish me. The 'Stam- 
pede' is danced in this way: The ladies range them- 
selves on one side of the room, and the gentlemen on 
the other. Then one of the gentlemen neighs, and if 
a lady 'whinnies 1 in answer, they both step forward, 
and become partners for the dance. If the gentleman 



264 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



is very homely, and, after neighing three times, no 
lady should answer, he steps out of the 'ring/ and 
hopes for better luck next time. 

"When the couples are all paired off in this way, 
the manager calis out, 'Gallopade all,' and all 'lope' 
around the room briskly three or four times. Then 
the gentlemen 4 curvet' to their partners, and the ladies 
coquettishly back their ears and kick up at the gentle- 
men. Then the ladies canter up to the gentlemen, who 
rear and plunge for a while, then seize the ladies' 
hands, and pace gracefully off in couples around the 
room. First couple then wheel and go off at a two- 
forty lick, second couple ditto, and so on till the race 
becomes general, when the manager calis out 'Whoa !' 
and everybody comes to a sudden halt. The manager 
the calis out, 'Walk your partners' ; 'pace your part- 
ners' ; 'trot your partners' ; and 'gallopade all' again, 
f áster and f áster, until the'sprained' and 'wind-galled' 
and 'short stock' begin to 'cave in,' when he calis out 
'Boo!' and throws his hat in the 'ring.' A general 
'stampede' f ollows ; the gentlemen neigh, curvet, and 
pitch ; the ladies whinny, prance, and kick, chairs and 
tables are knocked over, lights blown out, and every- 
body tumbles over everybody else, till the whole set is 
piled up in the middle of the room; and so the dance 
ends." 

"By jingo," said my new friend, grabbing my hand, 
"it's glorious! It's the very thing for this latitude, 
and will créate a sensation, you may depend. í'll 
introduce the 'Stampede' this very night." 

"Very well," said I ; "but you had better wait till it's 
time to go home, for, generally, things are smashed 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



265 



up so after the 'Stampede,' that it's hard to get the 
ball going again." 

My new friend and myself soon got pretty thick 
with each other, and before I suspected what he was 
up to, he had pumped me dry of all the information 
I could give him about myself, where I was from, 
what was my ñame, where I was going to, etc. 

After a while, he asked me if I ever indulged. I 
told him I was indulgent to a fault, providing the 
liquor wasn't certain death, like the most of it in 
Texas. (I once drank some in Castroville, that was 
so awful bad that it burnt a hole in my sleeve when I 
wiped my mouth afterward.) My friend, however, 
said they had pretty f air liquor there ; and he took me 
to a little room off to one side, where refreshments 
of all sorts were ladled out to the crowd. 

"What'll you take?" asked my new friend. 

"Well, I don't care," said I; "I'm not particular, 
so it ain't stronger that fourth-proof brandy." 

" 'Spose," said he, "we try a 'white lion'?" 

"Agreed," says I, off-hand like, just as if I knew 
perfectly well what he meant by a 'white lion,' though, 
of course, I hadn't the least idea what it was. 

The bar-keeper took a tumbler, poured a little ■ 
water in it, then put some sugar, and a good deal of 
brandy, then a little oíd Jamaica rum, and some 
pounded ice, and then clapping another tumbler to it, 
mouth downward, he shook 'em backward and for- 
ward till everything in them was well mixed up. He 
then slipped a slice of fresh pineapple into the tumbler 
and handed it to me. I put it to my lips, intending 
just to take a sip, to see how it would go ; but it never 
left them till I had drained the last drop. 



266 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



It was hard to beat, I tell you. I never tasted any- 
thing equal to it but once, and that was a drink of 
muddy water out of a Mexican gourd, after having 
been without any for five days and nights. I had 
already seen most of the 'lions' of the city, but the 
'white lion' took the lead of them all. If I had joined 
the Temperance Society only the day before, I should 
have backslidden at once. There's no use at all of 
joining it, when you have to encounter one of these 
'lions' in the path every day. Father Mathew himself 
couldn't scare one of them out of the way ! 

Well, I was so much taken up with my "lion," I for- 
got my new friend for an instant, and when I turned 
to look for him he was gone. I started off to hunt him 
up, but the bar-keeper called to me and told me I had 
forgot something. 

"What is it?" I asked. 

"To pay for those 'lions'," said he. 

I handed out the change without a word. In Texas, 
when a man asks you to drink, it is expected that he 
will pay, of course ; in the Oíd States, it seems the rule 
is reversed. But customs diífer everywhere. I looked 
all around the room, but couldn't find my new friend 
anywhere, ñor a buckskin "puss," filled with "six- 
shooter" bullets and percussion caps, that somebody 
had cut out of my coat-pocket. I didn't mind losing 
the bullets much, for I would freely have given them 
to the fellow that took 'em, if he had told me he 
needed 'em, but he had split my new coat about six 
inches on the side, and ruined it entirely. I suppose 
he thought he had got a purse full of California nug- 
gets, f rom the weight of it ; and I rather think he must 
have felt a little disappointed when he emptied it and 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



267 



found what it was filled with. I would have given a 
"slick quarter" just to have seen how he looked when 
the bullets and percussion caps rolled out. 

But, he wasn't the first f ellow, I thought to myself, 
by a long ways, that got only bullets f rom me when he 
expected something more agreeable. A good many 
others have carried off my lead with 'em, and some 
not very far, at that. I ain't in the habit, you know, 
of bragging in this way, but you see it was all owing 
to the "white lions" that somehow had got into my 
head, for by this time I had "repeated." 

Well, I was beginning to get somewhat tired of the 
"fandango," and was just about to despatch another 
"white lion," with the full intention of exterminating 
the breed at once, when a young woman, dressed in a 
fanciful sort of costume, carne up to me, and said "she 
presumed I was a stranger in the city." 

"How in the world," thought I, "does everybody 
know Fm a stranger in the city? Perhaps it's my 
'sombrero,' with its broad brim, and silver tassels 
hanging down behind;" and I remembered then I 
hadn't seen anyboy else in the city with one oñ. 

"Yes," said I, "Miss; I haven't been in the place 
long." 

"I thought not," said she; "you look like you had 
lately been transported from your native soil; you 
haven't wilted a bit yet." 

"I am afraid I will, though, now," said I, "since I 
have met with you;" for there was something about 
that young woman that was 'monstrous' taking! She 
was built up from the ground, and she walked as 
springy as a 'spike buck.' Her foot wasn't longer than 



268 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



my thumb, and the prettiest sort of pigtail curls hung 
down all around her neck. 

"Cross my hand," said she, holding out a little paw 
about the size of a possum's, with a flesh-colored 
glove on it, "and FU tell you your fortune." 

"My dear," said I — for by this time I wasn't afraid 
to say anything, the "lions" had made me so bold — 
"I don't care about having my fortune told; but FU 
give you a two-and-a-half-dollar gold piece if you 
will take off that mask and let me have a peep at that 
pretty face of yours." 

"Agreed," she answered. "But I must tell you your 
fortune first, anyhow, just to convince you that I 
understand my trade. Hold out your hand;" and I 
poked out a paw that will span the head of a flour- 
barrel 'with ease and elegance.' She took it in both 
hers, and examined it closely for some time. 

"You are from Texas," she said; and she followed 
a wrinkle on my hand with one of her little soft fingers 
till my blood tingled all the way up to my elbow. 
"That line runs straight back to that State." 

"You are a witch, sure enough," said I. 

"You are not married," said she, "but you will be 
before long, for that line" (following another with 
her finger that ran up to the bottom of my thumb) 
"reaches all the way to Cupid's dominions." 

"Right again," said I; "I see you understand your 
'trade,' sure enough." 

"And this line," she went on, tracing another from 
the middle of my hand till it sprangled out toward 
the roots of my fingers, "shows you've roamed about 
a great deal in the prairies and backwoods of Texas. 
You have been a great hunter, and no doubt have 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



269 



taken the scalps from the heads of many an abori- 
gine." 

"No," said I, "we haven't any of those varmints in 
Texas ; but Tve lifted the hair from the head of many 
an Indian; and if I only had 'Oíd Butch' here, I'd 
show you the little instrument I did it with; but the 
fellow down stairs has got it. But how in the world 
did you find out all this? You are a witch to a cer- 
tainty." 

"Of course I am," she answered, "and therefore I 
can easily tell that you are now on your way to 'Oíd 
Virginny'." 

"That'll do," I said; "I see you know it all; and I 
won't let you read any more of the lines on my hand, 
for some of 'em, you see, run into places where I 
wouldn't like to be trailed up. Come, I'm as dry as a 
'buffalo chip,' and wish you would ask me to take 
something." 

"Why don't you ask me ?" said she. 

"Because," I answered, "it seems to be the custom 
here for the one that's invited to pay; and I don't 
want you to settle the bar bilí." 

"Oh, very well," she said, "suppose we do have 
something." 

So we went up to the bar, and she asked me what 
I'd take. 

"I'm after big game now," said I, "and we'll take 
a 'white lion'." 

She called for "a lemonade with the privilege," and 
the "privilege," I noticed(which was Cognac brandy) 
filled up the tumbler pretty well of itself. Well, we 
stood there laughing and talking, and sipping our 
liquor, until we got on the best of terms, and at length 



270 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



I ventured to take her hand in mine and give it a 
gentle squeeze ; but I had drunk so many "white lions" 
I couldn't regúlate the pressure exactly, and I squeezed 
harder than I intended. 

The young woman gave a keen scream and jerked 
her hand away, and said I had crippled her for life. I 
begged a thousand pardons, laid the blame on the 
"lions" and "love at first sight," etc.; and finally got 
her in a good humor again. A woman will forgive a 
fellow anything, if he can only make her believe that 
it's all owing to her good looks or winning ways. 

"And now," said I, "that we are friends again, I 
must have a peep at that pretty face of yours, as you 
promised," and I handed her the two-and-a-half- 
dollar gold piece. 

"Well," says she, "it's about time to be going home, 
anyhow, and I suppose it will make no difference." 

So she took oíí her mask, and — what do you think? 
If she wasn't a full-blooded "mulatto" I wish I may 
never lift the hair from another Indian! I was so 
astonished I couldn't say a word; and what I would 
have done I don't know, but just then I heard a ter- 
rible row going on, and looking round, I saw my first 
friend sitting on a table, and calling out the figures of 
the "Stampede." Nearly everybody in the room had 
joined in, and such neighing, curvetting, and prancing, 
and pitching, and kicking up, I never saw or heard on 
the prairies of Texas. At last the manager threw his 
hat among 'em and called out, "Stampede all," and 
the "rippit" commenced. The women screamed and 
made tracks down stairs, while the men kicked over 
the chairs and tables and pitched into each other right 
and left. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 27 I 

One fellow carne along by where I was standing, 
and planted his boot-heel with all his might on the top 
of my toes ! I gave him three or four pounds of my fist 
right in the middle of his forehead, and he tumbled 
over on the floor and didn't take any more stock in that 
"scrimmage." By this time the pólice carne in and 
took a hand in the row, and things got livelier than 
ever. Two fellows grabbed me at once : I took an 
"under crop" out of the ear of one of 'em, and about 
half the hair off the head of the other. (It was well 
for him I didn't have "Oíd Butch" about me, or I 
should have got it all. ) Pretty soon I saw a mahogany 
chair flying straight toward me, and I rather suppose, 
f rom the bump that was on my head the next morning, 
that it had finally stopped the chair. At any rate, 
that's the last thing I recollect about the "Quadroon 
Ball." 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



Wallace in Trouble — Leaves New Orleans — On the Mississippi 
— A Boat Race — Wallace Roars Like a Mexican Lion — He 
"Sells" a Dandy — "Running Against a Snag" — Anchored on 
a Sand-bank — Damage Repaired, and Arrival at Cincinnati. 

IN the morning when I woke up, I found myself 
lying on the floor of a room with little grated 
windows to it, and two or three policemen walk- 
ing backward and forward before the door. There 
were at least a couple of dozen besides myself in the 
room, all looking very much the worse f or wear : an 
hour or so afterward, the pólice carne in, and took us 
all before the justice of the peace. He fined some of 
us considerably, especially those that seemed to be 
oíd acquaintances, and sent off all that couldn't pay 
to the "calaboose." When he carne to me, and found 
that I was a stranger in the city, he only fined me five 
dollars, and gave me lots of good advice gratis, which 
I forgot ten minutes afterward. 

This scrape rather sickened me with New Orleans, 
and after dinner I paid my bilí at the St. Charles 
tavern, and hired a porter to take my trunk to a steam- 
boat that was to start up the river that evening for 
Cincinnati, and in an hour or two after I went aboard 
she raised steam and put out. 

She was a splendid boat, and everything belonging 
to her was of the finest sort, just as if the owners had 
no idea she would ever u bust up," or run into a snag 
or a sawyer, which I believe is the end, sooner or later 
(generally sooner), of all Mississippi steamboats. 
There was a crowd of passengers aboard, and the 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



273 



ladies' cabin was filled with women and children. 
Such eating and drinking as there was on that boat I 
never saw before ! They weren't satisfied with three 
meáis a day, but had to have another, between break- 
f ast and dinner, they called "lunch." I thought of the 
times when I was a ranger, and used to ride hard all 
day, and then breakf ast, lunch, diñe, and sup, at night, 
on a little dried beef and a cake of u hard tack," and I 
wondered how these city-folks would make out on 
such f are ! 

The river was very high, and had overflowed all 
the bottom lands, and it looked strange to see people 
going from one house to another in pirogues and yawl- 
boats. I thought I would rather live on one of the 
high-and-dry prairies of Texas, where I had to haul 
my drinking-water five miles, than in such a place, 
where I could neither ride ñor walk, ñor do anything 
but paddle about in a "dug-out." Water is a good 
thing in moderation, but it can be "overdid" like 
everything else, just as it is in the Gulf of México, and 
in most of the liquors we get in Texas! 

The next morning after leaving New Orleans, we 
noticed a large steamboat come puffing on behind us. 
She appeared to be rapidly gaining on us, and it was 
soon reduced to a certainty that if we didn't "hurry 
up the cakes," she would pass us before long. I saw 
the captain of our boat and the mate with their heads 
together, and shortly afterward three or four oíd tar- 
barrels and half a dozen sides of bacon were thrown 
into the furnace by the firemen. Pretty soon the black 
smoke began to rise out of the chimneys, and the oíd 
steamer quivered and shook like a green hunter with 
the u buck-ague." By this time the other steamer had 



274 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



got nearly opposite to us, and everybody on it and on 
our boat hurraed and waved their hats and handker- 
chiefs. 

The captain of our boat walked up and down the 
guards, and tried to look as unconcerned as if he 
didn't know there was another boat in ten miles of 
him, but I saw plainly enough that he wasn't easy in 
his mind. The mate ran up and down the stairs every 
five minutes, till his face was as red as a turkey- 
gobbler's snout, and the firemen poked everything 
into the furnace they could lay their hands on. I do 
believe if we had taken the brand-new piano out of the 
ladies' cabin and handed it over to them, they would 
have shoved it in along with the tar-barrels, and never 
thought anything strange of it! Some of the passen- 
gers were afraid the boat would blow up, but they 
soon got over their scare, and "hurraed" as loud as 
the rest. And such a fizzing and whizzing and sputter- 
ing of steam you never heard. I tell you it was almost 
as exciting as a running fight on the prairies with the 
Comanche Indians! 

At last we began slowly to gain on the other boat, 
and as soon as the passengers noticed it, they "hur- 
raed" louder than ever, and I was just as crazy as the 
balance. I do believe, if I had known positively that 
our boat would have blown up the next minute, I 
would have yelled out, "A little more grape, Captain 
Bragg," to the fellows that were poking the fuel into 
the furnaces. I danced the "war dance," gave the 
Comanche death-yell, and then roared like a Mexican 
lion; and as soon as I saw that we were fairly leaving 
the other boat behind us, I ran up to the captain and 
grabbed him by the hand. The captain tried to look 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



275 



as if he thought the whole affair a small matter, but I 
could see well enough that he was tickled to the back- 
bone. However, he was "sensible to the last," for the 
first words he said to me were, "Let's go and take 
something," and we went. 

After we had taken a horn, the captain said to me, 
"See here, my friend, what sort of a yell do you cali 
that you gave just now as we passed the other boat?" 

"That/' said I, "was the bona fide screech of the 
genuine Mexican lion." 

"Well," said he, "I wouldn't begrudge five hundred 
dollars if I had a steam whistle on my boat that would 
blow in that style." From that time the captain seemed 
to take a great fancy to me, and always asked me to 
"liquor" whenever he went up to the bar, which was 
about every half-hour on a "low average," for he 
wasn't a hard drinker by any means. 

One day, we stopped a little while at a place called 
Vicksburg, in Mississippi, where the gamblers were 
all hung some years ago. Pity we haven't got half a 
dozen Vicksburgs in Texas ! At this place a fellow 
carne on board and took passage for somewhere up 
the river. He was a dandified-looking little fellow, 
dressed up in the height of the fashion. How he kept 
his shirt-bosom and his clothes so smooth, was a mys- 
tery to me. He looked as slick and as shiny all over 
as a newly varnished cupboard. He had a great many 
rings on his íingers (and on his toes, too, for all I 
know), and wore a big gold chain looped up in his 
vest pocket, and the half of a pair of spectacles hung 
round his neck by a black ribbon. Every now and then 
he would put this up to his eye, and take a sight 
through it at the ladies in the cabin. He was evidently 



276 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



laboring under a disease which we cali in Texas the 
"swell-head," and I saw plain enough if something 
wasn't done for him pretty soon, there would be no 
chance for him ever to get over it ; for it's a hard com- 
plaint to get rid of, anyhow! 

The first time he dined on the boat, he happened to 
take his seat at the table right opposite to where I sat; 
and what do you think he did? He took out a silver 
knife and fork from a little morocco case he had 
brought along with him, and ate his dinner with them, 
instead of the knife and fork by his píate, which were 
good enough for anybody. Thinks I, oíd fellow, 
here's a fine chance to do something for your case, and 
I'll see if I can't take advantage of it. 

The next day we stopped at a wood-yard to take in 
fuel, and I went on shore, and, while the deck-hands 
were getting in the wood, I whittled out a wooden 
case-knife about three feet long, and a fork in propor- 
tion. When I had finished them, I hid them under my 
coat, and carried them to my state-room without any- 
body seeing them. There was a gentleman occupying 
the state-room with me, and I had to let him into the 
secret, but he was mightily tickled at the idea of 
"doing the dandy," and lent me the case of his double- 
barrel gun, which was just about long enough to hold 
my knife and fork. 

When the dinner-bell rang, I took my seat at the 
table right opposite the chap with the "swell head," 
with my "gun-case" hid away under my frock coat, 
and waited for him to begin operations. He carefully 
laid the knife and fork by his píate to one side, and 
took out his own silver ones from the little morocco 
case, and began to eat in a "finniken" sort of way ! I 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



277 



followed suit precisely, laid my knife and fork to one 
side, placed my "gun-case" on the table, and drew out 
my three-foot butcher knife and "pitchfork," and be- 
gan eatíng with them as sober as a judge. As soon as 
the folks at the table saw what I was up to, the ladies 
all "tittered," and the gentlemen "haw, hawed," right 
out — the captain especially laughed till the tears ran 
down hís cheeks ; but I never cracked a smile, and kept 
on eating as "solemn" as a parson at a funeral. 

After dinner, the captain carne up to me, and says 
he, "Texas" ( for that was what he always called me ) , 
"you are a trump, sure," and he made me a present of 
a fine bowie-knife, which I have got yet, but it don't 
lift hair like "Oíd Butch;" and besides, when I went 
to settle for my passage, he knocked off five dollars, 
just for the effectual way in which he said I had "done 
for" the dandy. What went with "Swell Head" 
nobody knows, for he disappeared from the boat that 
day, and we never saw him afterward. 

The next day, as we were going along "full clatter" 
against the swift current of the Mississippi, we ran 
head on against a snag, and stove a hole in the bottom 
of the boat as big as a flour-barrel. I had often heard 
of running against a snag, and I understood the mean- 
ing of it pretty well after I tackled an oíd she-bear 
once, and got three hugs and a bite from her before 
"Oíd Butch" had the least show; but this was the first 
time I ever actually carne in contact with the bona fide 
article ! I tell you it made everything hop, and the oíd 
boat quivered from stem to stern like a dying buff alo ! 
The ladies all carne pouring out of the cabin, scream- 
ing like wild-cats, and some crying out, "Oh! we are 
lost! we are lost!" "The boat is sinking;" and some 



278 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



of the men, I noticed, were worse scared than the 
women. Such a "hubbub" and "to do" you never saw ! 

I wasn't the least bit frightened myself, for I 
learned to swim (like a puppy or an Indian papoose) 
before my eyes were open; and I stood on the guards, 
quietly waiting for the boat to sink, when I intended 
to strike out for the nearest shore. Most of the 
women screamed, and prayed, and wrung their hands, 
as if they thought it was the best way to keep the boat 
from going down; but I noticed one young woman 
that never "took on" at all the whole time; and a 
mighty good-looking one she was, too! She was as 
palé as a lily, but as calm and quiet as a morning in 
May, and didn't seem the least bit frightened for her- 
self, but only on account of a lame oíd gentleman, 
who, I suppose, was her father. She held on to his 
hand all the while, and looked up at him so lovingly 
and affectionately, I wouldn't have minded being her 
"pa" myself for a short time. 

I determined, when the time carne to "strike out," 
to take that young woman and the oíd gentleman into 
my especial keeping, and see 'em safe to shore; but 
just then a fat oíd lady, who weighed perhaps about 
two hundred and fifty pounds gross, carne waddling 
by in a great fright, and grabbed me by the arm; and 
then another woman carne along and hitched on to 
my other arm, while another clinched my coat tall, 
and they hung on to me like leeches till the alarm was 
over! If the boat had gone down I wouldn't have 
had a chance even to kick when I was drowning — they 
"hampered" me so ! 

The minute the boat struck the snag, the pilot 
backed her off, and steered for the nearest shore; but 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



279 



she filled so fast, we never could have made half the 
distance. Luckily for us, though, and particularly for 
me, with three women hanging on to me, we hadn't 
gone more than two or three hundred yards before we 
ran on to a sandbar in the middle of the river, and 
settled down on it hard and fast ! and that was all that 
saved us. We laid there two days and nights, pump- 
ing out the boat and stopping up the hole the snag 
had made in the bottom. When everything was put to 
rights, we raised steam up to the high-pressure point 
and backed olí, and once more went on our way re- 
joicing. Two or three days afterward we landed at 
Cincinnati, without any further accident. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Cincinnati— Waiter Girls at the Hotel — Wallace Discourses 
of Politeness — Southerners and Yankees — A Little Dish of 
Politics — Goes to Dan Rice's Circus — Rides a Refractory 
Horse, and Makes Twenty Dollars — What Wallace Thought 
of Cincinnati. 

A RRIVED at Cincinnati, I hired a hack and 

went up to the tavern, where I took a 

-A- j\.room, as I intended to stay long enough in 
the city to see all the sights. 

Pretty soon the gong rang for dinner, and I went 
in and took a seat at the table. A handsome young 
woman stepped up to me and asked me "what I'd 
take!" I din't understand exactly at first what she 
said, and I got up f rom my chair and offered it to her. 
She looked a little astonished, and everybody around 
laughed right out. Would you believe it, she was only 
a waiter, and I then noticed that every one of the 
waiters at the table was a young woman, and all 
dressed exactly alike. There must have been twenty 
of them at least, and a pretty sight they were, too, and 
one well calculated to give a fellow an appetite. No 
wonder that tavern was the most popular one in Cin- 
cinnati ! 

I took my seat again, and of course felt a little fool- 
ish, but it didn't take away my appetite ; and when the 
young woman asked me again what I'd have for din- 
ner, I told her about five pounds of roast beef, rare, 
(my usual allowance), and the "condiments." In a 
twinkling the roast beef was smoking before me, with 
the "condiments" piledup all around it in little dishes, 
about the size and mostly in the shape of a big oyster- 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



28l 



shell. I have seen all sorts of waiters in my travels, 
negroes, Mexicans, French, and Dutch, but these 
young women were the spryest and handiest I ever 
met with. All I had to do was to wink or malee a 
motion with my head, and what I wanted was there ! 

When I had finished the beef and "condiments," 
the young woman asked me what Fd take for dessert. 
I looked at her pretty little red pouting lips, and 
wanted to say that Fd taper off on them; but I didn't, 
for if there's anything in the world I despise more 
than anything else, it is a man who will make rude and 
insulting speeches to a woman, just because he can do 
so with impunity. Such a man is the most contemptible 
of all animáis, and isn't fit to be cut up into bait to 
catch mud-cats with. 

Well, I suppose every country has its particular 
fashions, but this was the first time I ever was at the 
table where the men were waited on by the women ! 
It didn't seem right to me to hear great, coarse, rough 
fellows ordering these nice young women about as if 
they had been "niggers." A low-bred dog, that sat 
opposite to me, told one of them to bring him some 
fried chicken, and because she didn't bring him the 
hind leg or some other particular piece he wanted, he 
told her she was a u good-for-nothing minx," and sent 
her back to get it. If I could have had that gentleman 
to myself in the "chaparral" for about five minutes, I 
would freely have given a couple of Spanish ponies — 
just for the privilege of teaching him some of the rudi- 
ments of common politeness ! You bet I would have 
given him a distaste to fried chicken the balance of 
his natural life. 

FU tell you what is a fact: The Yankees may brag 



282 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



as much as they please about their refinement and 
education ; but with all of it, they are not near so polite 
to the women as the Southerners are. They are a "go- 
ahead," energetic, enterprising people, full of vim 
and vigor, and shrewd, smart, and calculating, the 
very sort of people to get along in this world, the way 
it is "put up" at present; but it seems to me they lacle 
a something that the Southerners have, that is neces- 
sary in the making up of a number-one gentleman. I 
can't tell, to save me, what that is (and maybe, after 
all, it's only a notion of mine) , but at any rate it's one 
that can't be changed very easily. I don't say this out 
of prejudice to the Northern people, for we have our 
faults as well as they; and I think it probable, taking 
into consideration the diff erent way in which they have 
been taught and brought up, that, if a correct balance 
was struck between them and us, the remainder of 
sterling, substantial qualities would be in their favor. 
But I give this opinión more to let the Southern people 
know Tve studied arithmetic, than for any great 
weight I expect them to place on it. That the Yankees 
are an ingenious people, I know all will admit at once. 
Give one of them a Barlow knife and a piece of white 
pine for his stock in trade, and he'll make money out 
of it; if he can't do anything else, he'll whittle it up in 
wooden nutmegs, that will be better than the imported 
ones, only they won't flavor a toddy or a minee-pie 
quite so well ! 

A great many Southerners are mightily "down on" 
the Yankees for the way they have treated us since the 
war ended — and the Yankees ought not to be sur- 
prised at it. When a fellow comes to your house, and 
beats and bangs you about, because he is able to do it, 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



283 



and takes the most of your property, and leaves you 
as poor as a "church mouse," you ain't going to love 
him, that's certain, no matter how much you may have 
done to excuse such treatment — it isn't human nature ; 
and besides, many of the Southerners really thínk they 
were in the right from the start. For my part, I can 
forgive them everything they have done since the war 
began, except turning the negroes loóse among us, 
and giving them the right to vote and make laws for 
us. I do not mind their being set free, for that was 
the natural consequence of the war; but to take four 
millions of ignorant darkeys out of the sugar-fields 
and cotton plantations, and give 'em the right of 
voting and making laws to govern this great country 
was a crying shame ; for hardly one of them could tell 
J from a bandy stick, or knew anything more about 
the principies of our government than they did about 
mathematics or algebra. 

Besides, any one who will notice the way in which 
the u nigger" is "gotten up," will be satisfied that he 
is not the equal of the white man in mind or body. 
When we see a white man with a low forehead, pop 
eyes, and no chin to speak of, and what head he's got 
bulging all out toward the back part, we generally 
find he isn't overburdened with sense ; but this is the 
case with nearly all "niggers;" and, besides, they have 
wool on their heads instead of hair,blubber lips, bandy 
legs, jaybird heels, thick skulls, and an odor that the 
rankest abolitionist I ever saw didn't fancy on a hot 
day. "Cuffee" has some good points, I won't deny 
(and I hope, since he has been set free, that the white 
people will give him all the "showing" he deserves) ; 
but statesmanship, and the abilities necessary for 



284 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



legislating for this great country ain't among the 
number. 

But as the French say (which I learnt from 'em 
when I was in New Orleans), "Revaw noo ah noo 
crapo" — "let us return to our frogs." After dinner, 
I asked one of the landlords of the tavern (for I be- 
lieve there were at least six of them), if there was 
anything amusing going on in town. 

u Nothing just now," said he, "except Dan Rice's 
circus." 

I had been to a circus once at San Antonio, but as 
it seemed there was nothing else on hand, I concluded 
to go to this one, too. So I went, and found that it 
was the same oíd thing over again. The clown had 
the same oíd jokse, cut and dried, I had heard ten 
years before, and the "ring-master" walked around 
in a circle, cracking his whip, and letting the clown 
fool him continually in the same oíd way, for which 
he paid him off every time by a cut upon the shins. A 
handsome young woman, dressed in tights and a little 
short dress, that looked about as substantial as a puíf 
of tobacco-smoke, carne out, and did some pretty fair 
riding on one foot, and jumped over the ribbons and 
through a hoop that was held up for her, without ever 
making a slip. I thought, how nice it would be if a 
man only had a wife like that young woman, to ride 
around the yard of a summer's evening, and amuse 
him when he felt low-spirited and gloomy. She was 
mighty good-looking, too. in the bargain ; but when I 
carne to inquire more particularly about her, of a 
gentleman who was well acquainted with all these 
circus-people, he told me she had already had three 
husbands, and was about through with the fourth, who 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



285 



was then on his last legs ; so I concluded she wasn't 
as interesting and amusing a creature as I had taken 
her to be. 

I had begun to get pretty well tired of the concern, 
when the ring-master led out a horse, and offered ten 
dollars to any one who would ride him around the 
circle. A negro boy got on him, but had hardly fixed 
himself m the saddle when the horse made a lunge or 
two, and pitched him right against a Shetland pony 
that was hitched near by. Fortunately his head struck 
first, and of course he wasn't hurt; but the Shetland 
pony was killed dead on the spot, and had to be "drug 
out." Two or three others tried to ride the horse, but 
he threw them all before they got him half round the 
ring. I didn't like to make a show of myself, but then 
I hated to see the horse come oíf winner, when I knew 
I could ride him, so I stepped into the circle, and told 
the ring-master that I would try him a small "hitch" 
myself. I sprang into the saddle, and in a moment 
the fellow discovered, from the way I maneuvered, 
that I was going to "stick" him; so he made some 
excuse to take hold of the bridle, and said to me, in a 
low voice, "Where are you from?" 

"From Texas," said I. 

"The d — 1 !" said he. 'TU give you twenty dollars 
if you will let the horse throw you." 

"Done !" said I, for I knew what he was up to ; so 
after a pitch or so, I pretended to lose my balance, 
and rolled off upon the sawdust. The ring-master 
picked me up, and slipped a twenty-dollar gold-piece 
into my hand, which paid me pretty well for all the 
damage that had been done ; but I could have ridden 
the lights out of that horse if I had been a mind to, 



286 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



and he might just as well have tried to pitch his own 
hide off, as to "oust" me, after I had once got fixed 
in the saddle. The ring-master made me an offer to 
join the circus; and if that young woman hadn't had 
so many husbands already, I might have "enlisted" 
with 'em for a spell; but as it was, I declined. 

Cincinnati is as handsome a city as I ever saw, and 
the streets are as clean as if they were scoured every 
Saturday night. The people do a lively business in the 
u pig line," and the first question they ask one another 
when they meet on the streets, is, "How's pork 
to-day?" and they are gay and jolly, or dull and low- 
spirited, just as "pork" is "lively" and "looking up," 
or "heavy" and "flat." I think a good coat-of-arms 
for Cincinnati would be a fat shoat "rooting" upon 
an "azure field," and a keg of lard "couchant" on its 
side, with bunches of sausages and "adamantine dips" 
hanging around, and the motto underneath, 
"Root, pig, or die." 

I heard that there was one establishment in the city 
for packing pork, where they had a sort of mili, into 
the hopper of which you can throw a hog alive and 
squealing, and by the time you can run round to the 
other side a couple of canvas hams will roll out, then 
a couple of sides and shoulders, then fifteen or twenty 
pounds of souse, and two or three strings of sausages, 
and lastly a few dribblings in the way of stearine can- 
dles, bar-soap, and bristles done up in bundles ready 
for the brush and shoemaker ! Everything that went 
in at one side comes out at the other in some shape — 
except the "squeal." I didn't see this machine in oper- 
ation myself, but I was told about it by a member of 
the church, and of course it's all so ! 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Off for Wheeling — Everybody Smoking — Wallace's First Trip 
in the Cars — What He Thought of Railroad Traveling — 
Richmond — The Dime Restaurant — Wallace Goes to a Fire, 
and Gets "Put Out" — What He Thought of Prince Albert— 
Wallace Leaves Richmond, and Goes to Lexington — What 
His Relatives Thought of Him— The "Wild Texan" at a 
"Fandango," Where He Tells Some "Big Stories" — Miss 
Matilda, and What She Heard— Wallace Gets Tired of 
Civilization, and Goes Back to Texas. 

A FTER I had seen pretty much all the sights in 
Zz^X Cincinnati, I went on board of a steamer and 
A. )\ took passage for Wheeling, where we landed 
safely without anything worthy of note happening to 
us on the way. I went ashore at once, and took up 

my quarters at — House. Wheeling is a dull, 

smoky-looking town. The air was smoky, the houses 
were smoky, the trees were smoky — even the people 
were smoky; and when I went into supper I found 
that that was smoky, too, particularly the coííee, 
which tasted as if it had been boiled on a sobby fire 
in a pot without any lid to it. I didn't fancy the 
u lay-out" of the place at all, and, finding that the cars 
left that night for Richmond, I had my trunk taken 
to the depot, and about 12 o'clock I bid good-by to 
the city of Wheeling, and if I never see it again I 
shan't grieve myself to death, certain ! 

I never had traveled on a railroad before, and the 
whole "lay-out" was new and strange to me — the 
pufíing of the engines, the clatter of iron wheels, and 
the rapidity with which we scudded by every object 
on the wayside. I couldn't get over the idea for some 



288 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



time, whenever I looked out, that the horses were 
running away with the stage ! Whenever the cars 
gave a harder jolt than usual, I shut my eyes and 
clinched my teeth, expecting the next instant I would 
be shot to "the other side of Jordán," at the rate of 
forty miles a minute. But I noticed that the people on 
the cars who were used to railroads, laughed and' 
talked, and seemed as unconcerned as I would on the 
back of a wild mustang; although we had been told 
that, only a few days before, a train had run oíf a 
high embankment, and smashed up everything at such 
a rate, that one poor fellow who got jammed between 
two of the cars, was flattened out so they had to roll 
him up like a sheet of paper before they could get him 
into his coffin; and another that was caught somehow 
endways, was driven up into so small a lump that they 
buried him just as he stood, in a box no bigger than a 
five-gallon demijohn! I don't know which would be 
the most "unpalatable," the "flattening out" or the 
"driving up" process; but for my part, even if I was 
killed, I should prefer to retain my usual dimensions 
six feet four in length by two in breadth across the 
shoulders. 

There is another thing about this railroad traveling 
I don't like at all ! They don't give a fellow half time 
enough to stow away his "grub" decently at his meáis, 
but compel him to bolt everything he eats like a 
starved coyote. We stopped at a fine tavern for 
breakfast, and I paid a man at the door fifty cents to 
let me in ; but just as I had sweetened my coffee to my 
notion, and buttered four biscuits, and peppered and 
salted half a dozen boiled eggs I had broke into a ; 
tumbler, the whistle was blown, and everybody bolted 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



289 



for the cars, and I along with them, and I had just 
time to jump on the platform when off they started. 
I hope some clever f ellow got my breakf ast, for it was 
íixed up u all right," sure — particularly the eggs. But 
I concluded that sort of game wouldn't pay in the 
long run; so when we stopped for dinner I bolted my 
provisions whole (a trick I had learned when I was a 
prisoner in México), and trusted to the strength of 
my gizzard, which was "equal to the emergency," as 
the politicians say. 

When I hadn't time to bolt my rations before the 
whistle was blown, I grabbed up a píate of fried 
chicken, or something else, and a "pone" or two of 
bread, and walked off with it, píate and all, and fin- 
ished my meal at my leisure in the cars. By the time 
I reached Richmond I had a pile of dishes and plates 
in my córner of the car, enough to have set out a 
small table decently, if they had only been washed ! 

Just before we got to Richmond, a f ellow I had got 
acquainted with on the cars advised me to stop at the 
"Dime Restaurant," where, he said, I would be much 
better accommodated, and on more reasonable terms, 
than at the "first-class hotels." So, when I got to the 
depot, I hired one of the hacks and told the driver to 
take me to the "Dime Restaurant." When I got there 
I asked the clerk for a room, and he gave me a very 
comfortable one, with a good bed in it, and every- 
thing else a fellow needed; and for this I paid fifty 
cents a day. He gave me the key of this room, which 
he said was mine as long as I wanted it, and that I 
could go or come whenever it suited me. 

After I had washed and slicked up a little, I went 
down into the dining-room and took a seat at one of 



290 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



the tables, and in a minute a waiter brought me a 
"bill-of-fare," which is a sort of "muster-roll" of all 
the kinds of grub on hand. There was hardly a thing 
in the "eating line" that wasn't put down on this 
u muster-roll." The only "absentees" I noticed were 
"buüalo-hump," "marrow-gut," and bear-meat; but I 
suppose they can't always be had in a city like Rich- 
mond. On one occasion, out of curiosity, I attempted 
to cali f or all on the roll regularly through, but though 
I only tasted a mouthful of each, by the time I had 
got half through the list, before I got to "fried oys- 
ters," of which I am "remarkably" fond, I "caved in" 
completely. 

Each sepárate dish (except bread and coffee, which 
weren't counted in) cost a "dime," and from this I 
suppose the restaurant took its ñame. A man could 
breakfast, diñe, or sup there just according to the 
length of his purse. Forty cents would pay for a 
dinner good enough for any one, and if a fellow was 
getting down pretty near his "bottom dollar," he 
might make out to satisfy himself on a single dime. It 
wasn't like those big taverns where a fellow has to pay 
three or four dollars a day, besides perquisites to 
waiters and chambermaids, and shoe-blacks, even if 
he should never eat a bite in the house the whole time ; 
for, at the "Dime" you paid for just what you got, 
and no more ! It was one of the best taverns I met 
with in all my travels, and I only wonder there ain't 
more of 'em kept on that plan. All the drinkables in 
the house were a "dime" a glass also, and it was a 
curious thing to me that a man with a common appe- 
tite was just able to eat or drink a dime's worth of any- 
thing. But I thought, perhaps there might be some 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



291 



sort of proportion between a man's stomach and the 
tenth part of a dollar ! 

One night, a house just opposite to the "Dime" 
caught fire, and there was such a ringing of bells and 
rattling of fire-engines, that it was enough to have 
woke up one of the Seven Sleepers. It put me in mind 
of a "feast-day" at San Antonio, when the bells on the 
oíd church always set up such a jangle that it invaria- 
bly put my teeth on edge. 

I got up and went out to have a look at the "row." 
People were running backward and forward on the 
street, hallooing "Fire!" as loud as they could bawl, 
and a number of steam-squirts were throwing streams 
of water up to the very roof of the building as big as 
my arm. I walked up to where one of 'em was in 
operation, and after watching it for some time, I 
thought what a great thing one of 'em would be to 
water a "truck-patch" with in a dry season; so I asked 
the man who was working it, as polite as I knew how, 
"how much one of those 'steam-squirts' would cost?" 
Instead of answering me, he turned the nozzle of the 
thing right toward my bosom, and in a second I was 
lying on my back in a puddle of muddy water ! 

I "riz" with a brick in my hand, and took him just 
on the u burr" of the ear with it, and down he went! 
As soon as the other firemen saw this they all levelled 
their steam-squirts at me and knocked me over again, 
and kept on squirting at me, until they washed me 
clean over the curbstone and on to the side-walk, when 
I scrambled up and dodged into an alley, and made 
my way back to the "Dime," as wet as a drowned rat. 
That "soured" me on fires completely, and I went to 
no more of 'em. 



292 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



It was while I was in Richmond that Prince Albert 
paid a visit to the city. I only got a sight of him once, 
when he was riding in his carriage through the Ceme- 
tery grounds, and I must say that I think I have seen 
many a Dutch boy about New Braunfels and Freder- 
icksburg that was better looking. He didn't show the 
"bloody-royal" half as much as "Little Blue-Whis- 
tling-Thunder," the young Tonkawa chief. Some of 
our good democratic people took on mightily about 
this sprig of royalty, and gave him big dinners and 
soirées and tea-parties; but for my part, though he 
bowed politely to me when I met him in the Cemetery 
grounds, I didn't feel in the least "cowed" or con- 
fused by the compliment. I bowed politely back to 
him, and wished him well, and hoped he would re- 
member me to his "ma" when he returned home. I 
have since heard that the poor young man died soon 
after he got back; but his "ma," Queen Victoria, was 
a prudent woman, and had made ampie provisión for 
all such accidents, so that even if five or six of the 
"heirs apparent" were to die, she would still have 
"a few more of the same sort left." 

From Richmond I went on to Lexington, where my 
relatives lived. They were all glad to see me, and did 
all they could to make my time pass pleasantly while 
I was with them ; though I could see very plainly that 
they all looked upon me as a sort of half-civilized 
savage that never could be entirely tamed; and per- 
haps they were right. I had lived too long the free 
and independent life of a ranger, to be contented a 
great while with the steady habits and humdrum ex- 
istence of the people of the "Oíd States." I longed 
for the excitement of the chase, an Indian foray, a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



293 



buffalo-hunt, or a bear-fight. However, everything 
for a time was new and strange to me, and I enjoyed 
myself as much as I could have expected. 

A few weeks after my arrival I went to a "fan- 
dango" that was given for my especial benefit. There 
was a great crowd there, and everybody was anxious 
to see the "Wild Texan," as they called me. I was the 
"lion" of the evening," particularly with the young 
ladies, who never tired of asking me questions about 
México, Texas, the Indians, prairies, etc. I at first 
answered truly all the questions they asked me; but 
when I found they evidently doubted some of the 
stories I told them which were facts, I branched out 
and gave them some "whoppers," which they swal- 
lowed down without "gagging." For instance, one 
young woman wanted to know how many wild horses 
I had ever seen in a drove. I told her perhaps thirty 
or forty thousand. 

"Oh! now! Mr. Wallace," said she, "don't try to 
make game of me in that way. Forty thousand horses 
in one drove ! well, I declare you are a second 'Mun- 
chausen' !" 

"Well, then," said I, "maybe you won't believe me 
when I tell you there is a sort of spider in Texas as 
big as a peck measure, the bite of which can only be 
cured by music." 

"Oh, yes," she answered, "I believe that's all so, 
for I have read about them in a book." 

Among other "whoppers," I told her there was a 
"varmint" in Texas, called the "Santa Fé," that was 
still worse than the tarántula, for the best brass band 
in the country couldn't cure their sting; that the 
creature had a hundred legs and a sting on every one 



294 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



of them, besides two large stings in its forked tail, 
and fangs as big as a rattlesnake's. When they sting 
you with their legs alone, you might possibly live an 
hour; when with all their stings, perhaps fifteen or 
twenty minutes ; but when they sting and bite you at 
the same time, you first turn blue, then yellow, and 
then a beautiful bottle-green, when your hair all fell 
out and your finger nails dropped off, and you were as 
dead as a door-nail in five minutes, in spite of all the 
doctors in America. 

u Oh! my! Mr. Wallace," said she, "how have you 
managed to live so long in that horrible country?" 

"Why, you see," said I, "with my tarántula boots 
made of alligator-skin, and my centipede hunting-shirt 
made of tanned rattlesnakes' hides, I have escaped 
pretty well; but these don't protect you against the 
stinging scorpions, 'cow-killers,' and scaly-back 
chinches, that crawl about at night when you are 
asleep ! The only way to keep them at a distance is to 
"chaw' tobáceo and drink whisky, and that is the 
reason the Temperance Society never flourished much 
in Texas." 

u Oh !" said she, "what a horrible country that must 
be, where the people have to be stung to death, or 
'chaw' tobáceo and drink whisky ! I don't know which 
is the worst." 

"Well," said I, "the people out there don't seem to 
mind it much ; they get used to it after a while ; in fact, 
they seem rather to like it, for they chaw tobáceo and 
drink whisky even in the winter-time, when the 'cow- 
killers' and stinging-lizards are all frozen up!" 

I had been introduced to one young woman by the 
ñame of Matilda, who was as pretty as a pink! Her 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



295 



teeth were as white as an alligator's, and her eyes 
were as bright as two mesquite coals, and her mouth 
looked like a little gash cut in a juicy peach. She was 
a "deadener," I tell you, and a regular "knee- 
weakener," in the bargain; and I wanted to have a 
little talk with her the worst in the world; but some- 
how I felt a little afraid to venture. After a little 
while, however, she carne up to me of her own accord, 
and began to ask me a great many questions about 
Texas and the Indians, wild horses, and the prairies, 
etc. Among other things, she asked me if young 
women were in great demand in Texas. 

"I should think they were," said I. u The day the 
first young woman carne into our settlement there were 
fourteen Spanish horses badly foundered on sedge- 
grass, by the young men who flocked in to see her, 
from forty miles around; and the next morning she 
had seventeen offers of marriage before breakfast! 
The young woman was a little confused by so many 
applications at once, and before she could make up 
her mind which one to take, one of the 'rancheros' 
watched his chance, and the first time she walked out 
he caught her up behind him on his horse, rodé off full 
speed to San Patrico, drew his six-shooter on the 
padre, and forced him to marry them on the spot. 
This saved the woman all further trouble on the sub- 
ject, and they are now living happily together on one 
of the finest cattle ranches in the County of Karnes." 

u Oh! I declare," said Miss Matilda, "that is de- 
lightful ! How romantic to be run off with in that way 
by a handsome young 'ranchero.' I think, Mr. Wal- 
lace, I shall have to go to Texas." 



296 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



"You might do worse," said I; "and besides, you 
would stand a chance of being run away with by some 
great Comanche or Tonkawa chief, with a bow and 
quiver on his back and eagle's feathers on his head, 
and nothing else to speak of in the way of clothes." 

Miss Matilda didn't seem to hear the last part of 
my speech, for she jumped up and clapped her little 
hands: "Oh," said she, "wouldn't that be fine? To 
gallop over the flowery prairies, free as the wind, 
from morning till night, and listen to the feathered 
songsters pouring forth their untaught melodies from 
every grove and shady dell ! Oh, it would be splendid, 
Mr. Wallace!" 

"Yes," said I, "it would. One of the handsomest 
young women in our settlement was carried oíf, three 
or four years ago, by 'He-che-puck-sa-sa,' the 'Bellow- 
ing Bull,' and when I went on a visit to his tribe, not 
long ago, she was the favorite wife and head squaw 
of the wigwam, and had brass rings enough on her 
arms and legs to have made a pair of 'dog irons,' if 
they had been melted up, besides one in her nose as 
big as the palm of my hand." 

"Why! how many wives did the Mormon have?" 
asked Miss Matilda, looking a little down in the 
mouth. 

"Oh! I can't say exactly," I answered; "I only saw 
six; but he had another wigwam at the village below. 
But," said I, "Miss Matilda, after riding over the 
flowery prairies all day, and listening to the coyotes 
howling in every grove and dell, where will you put up 
at night ; and how will you manage to get along with- 
out hot rolls for breakfast, and baked custard for 
dinner?" 



"Oh," said she, "I don't care for them; I can do 
very well without them; all I want is a nice cup of 
coífee in the morning, and a biscuit or a slice of toast, 
and a little f resh butter, or a f ew f resh-laid eggs ; and 
for dinner a few vegetables and wild fruits, and now 
and then a nice beefsteak or a saddle of venison 
roasted before the fire!" 

"Yes," says I, "that's all reasonable enough, and 
you could get them, I suppose, at any time ; but you 
see, the Indians don't cook their meat." 

"The cannibals!" exclaimed Miss Matilda; "they 
certainly don't eat it raw, do they?" 

"Yes," said I, "as a general thing; only sometimes, 
when a fellow feels a little squeamish, he fastens a 
beef or mulé steak under his saddle, and after riding 
and jolting on it all day, he finds it nicely 'done' when 
he stops at night; and it's a very convenient way of 
cooking, too, especially when a fellow is in a hurry 
(which the Indians always are, for they are always 
after somebody, or else somebody is after them) ; and 
besides, they say it is the best thing in the world for 
a sore-back horse !" 

"Oh! dear," said Miss Matilda, "I don't believe 
I'll go to Texas, after all; for if I do, I must put up 
with a 'ranchero' — they don't eat their meat raw, do 
they?" 

"No," said I, "except when they are out on the 
plains, and can't find buífalo-chips enough to cook it 
with." 

"Oh! tell me, Mr. Wallace," said she, "did you 
ever see a 'mirage' on the plains?" 

"A mirage?" said I, rather taken aback, for I 
hadn't the least idea what she meant, unless it was a 



298 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



drove of mustangs or a herd of buffalo; "why, cer- 
tainly, I have seen a thousand of 'em." 

"I didn't think they were so common," said she. 

"Oh, yes," I answered; "the last one I saw was just 
back of Santa Fé, and it stampeded when we got in 
about a quarter of a mile of it; and such a dust as was 
kicked up you never saw, f or there hadn't been a drop 
of rain there in six months." 

"Well, I declare!" said Miss Matilda; "I always 
heard that the mirage would disappear as you ap- 
proached it, but I never heard of one kicking up a dust 
before." * 

"No," said I ; "they don't in other countries, where 
the ground is kept wet by constant rain ; but in Texas, 
you see, it is diíferent." 

Just then a dapper-looking young fellow carne up 
and asked Miss Matilda if he might have the pleasure 
of dancing with her that set, and she walked oíf with 
him. I took a dislike to that young fellow at once, and 
felt for "Oíd Butch," without knowing what I was 
about! The fact is, I rather fancied this young 
woman, and I determined, the next time I met up with 
her, to give her a better account of Texas, and leave 
out all about the centipedes and "raw meat." 

Well, sir ! I staid with my kinsfolk in Oíd Virginny 
till I began to pine for the prairies and woods once 
more. They were as kind to me as they could be, but 
f eather beds, tight rooms, and three meáis a day were 
too much for me, and, like oíd General Taylor, when 
he was taken from "camps" to the "White House," 
I fell away daily, and "went off my feed" entirely; 
and, like him, I suppose I should have gone up the 
spout, if I had staid much longer. I helped matters a 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



299 



little by taking a camp-hunt of a couple of weeks in the 
Blue Ridge Mountains, where I killed the last bear, I 
suppose, that was ever seen in that part of Oíd Vir- 
ginny, for when his carcass was hauled in, people carne 
from twenty miles around to have a look at it. But I 
never got entirely to rights again till I returned to 
Texas and got into an Indian "scrimmage," and lifted 
the hair oír of one or two of them with the aid of "Oíd 
Butch." That night, for the first time, my appetite 
carne back to me, and I ate six pounds of buffalo- 
hump, a side of ribs, and a roasted marrow-gut, and 
ever since I have been "as well as could be expected." 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



Wallace Gives Jacte Dobell His Opinión of Farming — Unele 
Josh — The Jews a Sensible People — Wallace Makes His 
Arrangements for aCrop — He and "Keechie" Try Plough- 
ing — Both Disgusted — Queer Muskmelon — Ruined by the 
Drought— How Wallace Was Cheated Out of His "Roasting 
Ears" — Living on Watermelons and "Poor Doe" — Waílace's 
Future Prospects — Conclusión. 



OME years ago, while on my way to the city of 



San Antonio, I lost my road, and after wander- 



\^J' ing about the prairies till nearly sunset, I con- 
cluded to strike camp, and make a fresh start in the 
morning. But just as I had made up my mínd to pass 
the night at "Sprawls," and put up as well as I could 
with such accommodations as are usually furnished by 
that extensive establishment, I thought I saw some 
faint symptoms of a "settlement" ahead of me. Spur- 
ring on my jaded horse, I at length carne to a sort of 
hybrid between a log cabin and a half-faced camp, in 
front of which a man was seated on a fallen tree, 
busily engaged in rubbing up his rifle. 

"Can you give me such directions, my friend," said 
I, "as will enable me to find my way back to the main 
road to San Antonio?" 

The man looked up as he replied to my question, 
and to my astonishment I recognized my oíd friend 
and messmate, Big-Foot Wallace. 

u Why, helio, Foot," said I, "have you forgotten 
your oíd 'compadre,' Jack Dobell?" 

Big-Foot looked at me dubiously for a minute, 
then, springing up from the log, he seized me by the 




BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



301 



hand and gave it such a grip that my fingers stuck 
together for five minutes afterward. 

"Get down, Dobell," said he, "and rest your face 
and hands. You must stay with me all night, and in 
the morning 1*11 pílot you out to the road myself. It's 
a fact, though," continued Big-Foot, looking ruefully 
around upon the apparently scant accommodations 
afforded by his "ranch," "it's a fact, though, I haven't 
got much to offer you. Crops have failed entirely, 
but there's pretty smart of good grass in that hollow 
yonder for your nag; and my partner, Jackson, was 
lucky enough to kill a fat buck to-day. So get down 
at once, for I have a heap to tell you about what has 
happened to me since we last met, and particularly 
about a scurvy trick my partner, Jim Jackson there" 
(pointing to a remarkably homely individual who was 
busily engaged near by in "peeling" the hide from the 
aforesaid buck) "played off upon me about a month 
ago." 

Without further "palaver," I dismounted from my 
horse, and, under Big-Foot's guidance, proceeded to 
stake him out in a snug little valley, where the mes- 
quite grass grew rank and luxuriantly. 

"You needn't be afraid to stake him so far from 
camp — there's no Indians about here now," said Big- 
Foot, with a melancholy expression of countenance, 
as if he was heartily sick of "these piping times of 
peace," and longed to see once more the stirring 
scenes of bygone days. "I do believe there hasn't been 
an Indian in ten miles of this place for the last twelve 
months." 

"Why, you don't tell me, Big-Foot," said I, "that 



302 



THE ADVENTURES 0F 



you have been all that time without a single 'scnm- 
mage' with the Mexicans or Indians?" 

"Yes," said he, "with the exception of a little 
'tussle' I had with the 'Tonks,' about six months ago, 
on the Llano, I haven't had a row of any sort since I 
'drove my pegs down' in this settlement. And no won- 
der, neither, for the people are 'piling in' here as thick 
as pig-tracks around a corn-crib door ; and they have 
fenced up the prairies in such a way that the Indians 
won't venture in, for fear of being 'hemmed up.' If I 
only knew where all these people come from, Fd go 
there right oíf, for there can't be any one left behind, 
and a fellow wouldn't be 'scrouged' to death, as he is 
here now. Of all things in the world, I hate being 
'fenced up' ; I want plenty of elbow-room and plenty 
of 'outlet,' but here you can't travel half a dozen miles 
in any direction, without being headed oíf by some- 
body's fence." 

On our return to the "ranch," we took a seat on the 
log which answered Big-Foot in place of a sofá, and 
he said to me, "Well, in the first place, I suppose you 
would like to know how I carne to settle here, and take 
up with the business of farming. 

"You see, after the Mexican war had ended, and 
that chap with the gold epaulets on his shoulders and 
the 'chicken fixings' on his coat-sleeves had mustered 
us out of the service and paid us oíf, Jackson and I con- 
cluded, as we had saved up a smart pile of money be- 
tween us, that we would try our hands at 'ranching.' 
Neither of us knew anything about it, but we thought 
it would be plain sailing enough, as things appeared 
to, grow in this country pretty much of their own 
accord anyhow, without requiring a great deal of hard 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



303 



work, of which neither of us were 'overly' fond. So 
we bought two hundred acres of land here, from 
Unele Josh (and by the same token, he made us pay a 
'swingeing' price for it — twenty-five cents an acre, 
half cash down) . 

"You know Unele Josh, don't you? There never 
was a better-hearted fellow in the world, and he has 
but one little failing: whenever he can get to where 
there's liquor, either the liquor gives out, or he gets 
'Ingin drunk' certain — one or the other. I have often 
taken him out in the chaparral, and talked to him with 
tears in my eyes as big as glass marbles, about his 
carrying on so in that way; but all I can ever get out 
of him is, 'that it's all owing to the high price of putty,' 
which, he says, 'riz half a cent on the ton, just as he 
had sold out.' 

"But, as I was telling you, after Jackson and I had 
bought this piece of land from 'Unele Josh,' the first 
thing we did was to build this shanty, and fence in 
that 'truck-patch' you see yonder ; and long bef ore we 
got through with the job, I tell you I had taken a per- 
fect disgust for farming. To sit here comfortably on 
this log, and look at that little shanty and the truck- 
patch alongside of it, you would think them a mere 
circumstance ; and, in f act, they don't make a very im- 
posing show in the way of improvements ; but just you 
try your hand at riving a few hundred boards out of 
these knotty post-oaks, that split just as well cross- 
ways as lengthways, and if you don't lather 'a few,' 
and cuss a few more, then I'm mistaken. And, if that 
don't satisfy you, just pitch into that chaparral out 
yonder, where the thorns are as sharp and as crooked 
as cats' claws, and perhaps, by the time you are tat- 



3°4 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



tooed all over like a New-Zealander, and there's noth- 
ing left of your pants but the waistbands, and only the 
collar of your shirt, you will come to the same con- 
clusión that I did, that farming ain't quite so pleasant 
a business as following an Indian trail on an easy- 
going horse, with a fair prospect of overtaking the 
women and children. 

"In my opinión, the Jews are the most sensible 
people about 'farming,' after all. You'll find 'em 
everywhere making money at all sorts of trades and 
occupations; but whoever heard of a Jew that fol- 
lowed 'grubbing the ground' for a living? Even in the 
time of Moses, you know, they went 'scootin' ' around 
the country for forty years, living on manna and 
grasshoppers, just for an excuse to keep f rom building 
shanties and hoeing corn. They are a shrewd, smart 
people, and Fd join 'em at once, only I'm opposed to 
their 'earmarks,' and don't like being circumscribed 
and hemmed up, as I told you. Besides, I don't want 
to give up oíd 'Ned,'* of which I am remarkably fond. 
Take my advice, Dobell, and never do you try 'farm- 
ing,' unless you have got half a dozen darkeys and a 
small 'trash gang' to clear away the 'roughness.' 

"Well, as I was saying, after we had worked and 
'fussed' around here more than a month, and got the 
shanty built and the ground fenced in, I went into 
town and bought a plough, shovels, spades, hoes, and 
all sorts of farming ammunition, so as to have every- 
thing ready when the planting season carne around. 
I went to a drug-store and bought all kinds of seeds, 
done up in little brown paper pareéis; for, thinks I, 
maybe farming is like shooting at ducks with mixed 
*A Southern term for bacon. 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



305 



shot: if a No. 4 don't hit 'em in the body, perhaps a 
No. 7 will take 'em in the head. If parsnips don't do 
well, maybe beets will. I didn't forget muskmelons 
and watermelons (for I am powerfully fond of 'em, 
I am) ; and well it was I didn't, as I'll tell you before 
Fm done. 

"The first thing I did, when I got back from town, 
was to hitch my saddle-horse, oíd 'Keechie,' into the 
plough; and if ever I saw a shame-faced brute, he was 
one. He looked as if he thought he had got down to 
'the lowest notch' at last. He was so cowed he went 
oíf as quiet as a lamb, and never cut up the first 'shine.' 
I had never tried ploughing before in my life, but I 
had seen other people at it, and I thought it was the 
easiest thing in the world; but Fm blamed if I have 
got the 'hang' of it rightly to this day. Sometimes the 
crazy thing would scoot along the top of the ground 
for a yard or so, and then, kerwhoop ! it would come 
up against a grub, and jar the very nails off my fingers. 
Then again it would dive right down into the earth, 
as if it thought I was engaged in digging cellars by the 
job ; and whenever I tried to bring it up, I was sure to 
overdo the thing, and away it would go again scooting 
along the top of the ground, until another grub would 
bring it up all standing. I pledge you my word, 
Dobell, after I had run the first furrow, and looked 
back at it, it made me dizzy, it was so monstrous 
crooked. However, we at last got through with the 
job; though, if you had seen the field after we had it 
done, you would have thought a gang of wild hogs 
had been rooting in it for the last month. 

"Well, we planted the most of it in corn, and the 
rest we planted with the seeds I had bought at the 



306 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



drug-store. Among them was a paper labelled 'musk- 
melon seed' (and I am remarkably fond of musk- 
melons, I am) ; so I planted them in the richest part of 
the patch, and tended them well till they began to 
grow finely. But, one day, as I was passing through 
the patch, I saw a young melón sprouting on one of 
the vines, and as it appeared to have a rather queer 
look, I stooped down to examine it closely, and may I 
never scalp another Indian if it wasn't a regular 
bottle-gourd ! I turned in right away and dug all the 
vines up, for fear strangers might think I had a touch 
of nigger blood in me, for you know the oíd saying, 
'A poor man for posterity, and a nigger for gourds.' 

"Well, everything grew oíf splendidly for a spell, 
and the corn seemed to do just as well in the crooked 
furrows as if they had been straight; but after a while 
the drought set in, and the drier it got the more the 
corn turned 'yaller,' until at last it wilted right up. I 
tried my best to make it rain, but it was all no use. 
Sometimes, the frogs croaked powerfully in the 'slash' 
over yonder, but it never rained for all that; and at 
last the slash went dry, and the frogs would have died 
if they hadn't turned to highland toads. Sometimes 
the wind was due east, and my corns hurt me terribly, 
but still it didn't rain. Sometimes there was a great 
'helio' around the moon, as big as a wagon-wheel, and 
I made sure we would have rain then ; but we didn't, 
and never did until everything was as dry as this long 
yarn I am spinning now. 

"But to cut it short, the crop turned out a perfect 
f ailure. And now I will tell you about the scurvy trick 
that Jackson there played off on me, not long ago. I 
wish my rifle may snap the next fair chance I get at an 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



307 



Indian, if I thought there was as much meanness in 
'human natur.' You see, though it is true the crop 
had failed teetotally, there were about roasting-ears 
enough in the patch to make one pretty f air mess ; and 
I told Jackson one morning that I would go out and 
kill a fat buck, and when I got back we would gather 
the crop, and have one good 4 bait' out of it, anyhow. 
So I swabs out oíd Haco, as I cali my rifle, and off I 
put, up one side of Doe Run and down the other, then 
over to York's Creek, and from there to Little Sandy, 
but not a single deer could I find. At last, however, 
when I had given up all hopes of killing a deer that 
day, and was making tracks for home, just after Cross- 
ing Burnt Boot, I 'upped' as fine a buck as you ever 
saw. I peeled his hide olí in short order, cut out the 
'saddle,' and started for home at a double-quick, for 
by this time I was getting as hungry as a coyote. When 
I got in about two hundred yards of the camp, I 
thought I smelt 'fried corn,' and mistrusted something 
was wrong immediately; and, sure enough, when I 
walked into the ranch, there sat that rascal Jackson 
'shoveling' the last grain from the skillet down his 
throat. 

u He had taken advantage of my absence to gather 
and eat up the whole crop we had been working four 
or five months to make ! He hadn't left a nubbin as 
big as my thumb in the field, and consequently all my 
share of that crop was just one smell of fried corn; 
and I suppose I shouldn't have got that much if I 
hadn't happened to have the wind of Jackson as I 
carne up. 

"Well, from this time on, things got worse and 
worse. The potatoes took the dry rot — and who 



3 o8 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



could blame 'em, as a drop of rain hadn't fallen in 
three months? — and everything else we had planted 
wilted right up, except the watermelons. They did 
finely, I suppose because they carry their own water 
along with 'em, and of course are independent of the 
weather. By this time, what with buying ploughs and 
hoes and other implements, etc., our money gave out 
entirely, and we were compelled to live on water- 
melons, with now and then a dish of 'poor doe,' which, 
as you know, isn't much stronger diet than the water- 
melons. I admit that watermelons are flrst rate in 
their way, but when a fellow has nothing but water- 
melons for breakfast, watermelons for dinner, and 
watermelons for supper, he fairly hates the sight of 
one after a while. I pledge you my word, Dobell, that 
after I had lived for a week or so on 'em, I could hear 
the water 'jug' in me whenever I stumped my toe as 
I walked along ! And then they are such unsatisf ying 
and 'ill-convenient' diet ! In fifteen minutes after eat- 
ing a fellow that would weigh twenty pounds, I was 
just as hungry as ever. 

"Once there carne along some travelers here, who 
wanted dinner, and I tell you, Dobell, I have never 
felt so mean in my life since the time Polly Jenkins 
said, 'No, sir-ee, horse-fly, Bob,' to a little question I 
asked her, as I did when I took the travelers out to 
the 'patch,' and, giving them a butcher-knife apiece, 
told them to 'pitch in,' as their dinner was before 
them. However, I see Jackson has got the steaks 
ready for supper; so draw up a 'chunk,' Dobell, and 
take a 'bite.' 

"No, Dobell," he continued, as he helped my tin 
platter to about a pound of juicy steak, "I'd rather 
be that oíd chunk you are sitting on, sailing forever 



BIG-FOOT WALLACE 



309 



round and round in a 'dead eddy,' than live here as I 
have done for the last six months." 

"But, Big-Foot," said I, "if you are going to give 
up 'farming,' what will you go at? There won't be 
any more rangers wanted, you know, because the 
Government has settled all the Indians upon their 
'reserves,' where they are learning them to farm and 
to eat fat beef in place of horse-meat." 

"Yes," said Big-Foot, with a melancholy shake of 
the head, "all that is very true, I know, and I hear the 
Indians take to it kindly — least ways, to the beef. 
However, Jackson tells me there's a couple of 'gals' 
moved into the settlement down below here, that are 
as rich as 'cow-yards,' and we have concluded to 
'slick-up' a little and hunt stock awhile in that neigh- 
borhood. I think I shall stand a pretty good chance 
to get one of them, seeing as how there are worse- 
looking chaps than I am; but as for Jackson there, he 
is so uncommonly ugly, that if a 'gal' was dying of 
some sort of sickness that could only be cured by 
marrying, Fm doubtful, if he was to offer himself, if 
she wouldn't rather 'kick the bucket,' and him, too. 
Look at them teeth of his, will you, how they stick out 
in front, just as if he had been made on purpose to 
'eat pumpkins through a fence'." 

"But, Big-Foot," said I, "if you should accidentally 
fail in the 'gal speculation,' what will you do then?" 

"That is what I cali a 'poser'," said he ; "but there's 
one thing you may depend on : just as soon as I hear 
of a Comanche starving to death for want of a horse 
to eat, I'll try 'farming,' again, and not before. Jack- 
son, bring out the bottle-gourd — there's a little 'wake 
robin' left in it yet, and I have talked till I am as dry 
as a 'buífalo-chip'." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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